The Necessary Evils
by Random Artemis
Summary: There had been a century of peace when the youma suddenly attacked. Battered, and cut off from the palace guard, only Hotaru and Mina manage to make it to the portal Pluto opened for retreat. Fighting, swearing, love, angst and lingere for world peace.
1. Default Chapter

  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I am but a lowly high school student with no money, no job, and nothing of value except my cat, my laptop Steve, and the crapmobile Roxy, all of which you can't have cuz I would fight to the death for them. I fight dirty, I pull hair, I use cheap groin shots. I BITE. Oh yeah, I do own Artemis and Maverick who make their customary cameos as always whenever I need a quick extra in a story. 

  
  


Authors' notes: ducks thrown fruit, various rodents and volkswagon beetles I know, I know, I really shouldn't start a new story when I already have about four or five on the go, but you know how plot bunnies are.. First you have two, then, before ya know it, you have twenty! Anyway, new chapters of...well...almost everything are almost done. So go read them again soon! AND REVIEW Chibi Duo: promoting yourself is baaad Shh..I know, so review this....

  
  


Okay, mostly Sailor Moon in this part, but Gundam will obviously come heavily into play next chapter.

  
  


The Necessary Evils

  
  


Chapter 1: Watching the World Go Black

by: Random Artemis

  
  


Pain. Searing pain screeched up the side of my body. Was this the end? Did it have to end like this?

The youma had torn through us like tissue paper, unsurprisingly. We were off our guard, we had been for over a millenia of peace. The Queen whimpered pathetically in the corner as the Youma rained attack after attack on her, curled protectively over the wailing infant Chibi-Usa. She had long since given up retaliating. Mina had collapsed a few meters away from me, he chest ripped open by a vicious youma with claws. Rei went down, encased in a water bubble, screaming, until she finally stopped twitching and lay still. Ami lay unconscious across the room, bleeding sluggishly from a head wound, she was a ways away from me, so I couldn't judge it's severity. Mako writhed on the floor her hands twitching weakly toward the spear protruding from her back and exiting through her stomach. Haruka and Michiru lay still in each other's arms, and Endymon was pinned to the wall with his own roses like a grotesque, gigantic butterfly on display.

  
  


Unbeknownst and unnoticed by the youma, and the other senshi, Pluto opened a portal behind me, and the battle. I tried to call out to the other senshi, but I could no longer make a sound, a harsh rattle in the back of my throat was the only voice I had. I to crawled toward the fallen form of Venus and managed to weakly roll her through the portal, I began to crawl toward Rei, but as I inched painfully nearer, I realized she was already dead, instead I turned to move toward Mako, but a wave of dizziness overcame me. I looked at Mako, I looked back at the portal. I could probably make it to either Mako or the portal without passing out, but not both. I looked desperately to Setsuna, the only senshi still left standing. Our gazes locked, sadness in her eyes, tears blurring the bottom edges of her eyes as she took another vicious blow. "Go." she mouthed silently in absolution, then, like the others fell. 

I lurched back toward the portal, tears streaming silently down my face, and toppled through it. It snapped shut behind me, indicting that Setsuna had died. My entire body went numb as I hit the other side and my pain sensors overloaded, I stared at the empty space once occupied by the portal. My mind, finally cleared of it's pain-haze, realized what I had done. I had left them to die, I could have saved them but I left them there. Setsuna could have lived if she didn't sacrifice herself to let me escape. I could have saved them if I'd been stronger, if I hadn't run like a coward. My fault, all my fault. "No!" I wailed mentally. "I change my mind, I change my mind!"

"What have I done?" I realized in horror, just before the world went black. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

  
  
  
  


"What the...?" Maverick exclaimed as his jeep screeched suddenly to a stop. 

"Ahh!" Artemis screeched, rubbing her neck with one hand, and clutching the dashboard with the other, "I think you nearly gave me whiplash you _jerk!_" 

Maverick's eyes twinkled with mischief, "Wow," he said in mock astonishement, "You THINK?" 

Catherine sighed in defeat, once those two got started, no one could stop them. She wished silently for Trowa to come back safely to the circus, or at the very least, for the "Dynamic Duo" as they liked to be called (though they constantly fought over who was Batman and who was Robin) to contract a simultaneous case of laryngitis. Trowa's subtle threats of locking a lion in each of their trailers was pretty much the only thing that could shut the pair of trapeze artists up. She rolled her eyes good-naturedly, and was about to add to the running banter, but then caught sight of what had made Maverick slam on the brakes. There were bodies on the road. 

Artemis saw them soon after Catherine, and silently got out of the car, forgetting her argument. There were two of them, the one with long blond hair was lying face down more or less in the middle of the road, and the other was lying, nearly completely concealed in a ditch, only a forearm and hand rested on the pavement. Catherine gulped, she REALLY hoped it wasn't JUST part of an arm in the ditch. 

Maverick nudged the blond one with his toe, lifting her slightly, but dropping her once he saw that she had been gutted like a fish, from her collarbone to navel. She wore an orange and white blood-spattered dress-like uniform, and about half her hair had been singed to about shoulder-blade length, the rest reaching her mid-thigh.

Artemis gathered her courage and walked tensely over to the ditch. Thankfully, this one was mostly intact, though it's left arm and leg jutted out at unnatural angles from the body, bones sticking out of the leg. The body had dark hair and wore a darker, but similar version of the uniform the other body wore. Though this one's uniform was less blood spattered, there was still a large cut over her ribs that was still slowly seeping blood...which meant the heart was still beating!

"Mav, Cat! This one's still alive!" Tem called from the ditch.

Maverick and Catherine looked over in surprise, "Good, cuz' I think this one's dead." he replied.

  
  


To be continued....

  
  


So, what do you think? Should Minako really be dead? How do they meet the Gundam boys? Did all the other scouts die? Should this be a romance?....and no, Artemis and Maverick aren't mainstays in the story (unless of course you want them to be...think a pair of Duo's on crack still stuck in the 'i hate you' kindergarten love) heh....anyway, review! I don't know where I should go from here! REVIEW PLEEEEEEASE? big chibi eyes


	2. 

  
  


Thankee for all the lovely reviews, especially to Princess Saturn who went to the trouble of e-mailing me because Princess Venus had already left a review from their computer. I feel so loved! 

Warning! Warning! I don't not Mary-Sue the characters, there will be scars, the will be insults and tears and bad pick up lines. Yes, BAD pick up lines!

Oh yeah, I left little soundtrack notes as to what I was listening to as I wrote each part, for mood music *grin*)

  
  
  
  


Alright, everyone obviously thinks that the girls were injured by the war, not anything else.

  
  


The Necessary Evils, part 2.

The Misplaced Princess

  
  
  
  


(Soundtrack: 3 Libras, by A Perfect Circle)

"Good. 'Cuz I think this one's dead." Maverick replied.

"We'd better make sure..." Catherine replied uneasily, for some reason she was having trouble breathing at the sight of the girls. Maverick nodded and turned the blond over gently, he leaned over her slashed face, and held his ear over her open mouth. He frowned, titled and titled her head back to clear her airway, then leaned down to check again. He paled and shook his head, "Guys, she's not breathing..."

Artemis dragged the girl with dark hair out of the ditch, elicting soft whimpers as her wounds were jarred roughly. Maverick began CPR, though how he was to do it on a girl with her entire chest ripped open was beyond him.

Catherine stood there, feeling helpless, she had already called the ambulance, there was nothing she could do that wouldn't get in the way of her two companions...well, maybe there was one thing. She sprinted to the car and called Trowa on the car phone. "C'mon Tro...pick up...pick uuuup..."

  
  


Trowa was having a very good day. He probably would have been humming to himself, but Trowa just didn't do things like that. Nevertheless, he was in an inexplicably good mood that day and tapped the steering wheel contentedly in time with the music. 

He was going home today. Okay, well maybe not strictly home, because the circus never stayed in one place too long, and technically, his fellow pilots and himself were residing in a small safehouse just outside of Sydney in Australia, but for some reason wherever his sister Catherine was always seemed like home. 

Annoyingly, his phone chose that moment to ring. He growled as he realized he'd left his phone in the back seat, but quickly pulled over to reach back to get it. He smiled slightly, it was probably Quatre wondering if he's arrived at the camp safely. Trowa could take care of himself, but he was pleased to know that someone cared enough to worry about him. "Hello?" he said quietly into the phone.

Nobody answered. He heard faint voices in the background, a male and a female.

"Fuck, Tem, it's not working! She's not breathing, fuck! Her heart's stopped!"

"Try harder!..oh my god, it's not working..."

He recognized them from the circus, they were the trapeze act. "Catherine?" he thought desperately, suddenly very glad he'd pulled over to receive this call. His acute hearing picked up harsh breathing on the other end of the line, the person holding the phone had apparently forgotten their incomplete phone call. "Hello? Hello?" Trowa said, an edge of panic in his stoic voice. 

A harsh sob was cut off abruptly. "T-trowa?" it said faintly.

Relief washed over Trowa like a tidal wave, "Catherine, are you alright? What's happening?" he said, going into mission-mode now that he was assured his sister wasn't on the brink of death. 

"B-bodies on the r-road, d-dying, Tro..help!" She sobbed, she had been in war areas before , and she had seen the horrors, but she had never been this close before. She had never seen the beaten and bloody dying, or perhaps already dead being desparately pounded into CPR in a last-ditch effort to revive them. She had never realized that the teenaged girl laying motionless in Maverick's bloodied arms could have so easily been her. 

"Where are you?" Trowa said calmly, and Catherine managed to stammer out her co-ordinates, "I'll be there in five minutes." Trowa replied, his face resettling into his hardened mask as he hung up and pulled onto the road, flooring the gas. 

Catherine hung up slowly, she could always count on Trowa, he was so strong. She stopped to wonder how he could manage to deal with situations like this every day, and worse. Every time he visited she wanted to force him to stay, but then situations like this arose, proving the overwhelming need to end this war. "Never again, never again a war like this," she thought as Maverick was losing faith in reviving the injured blond, "Never again." she whispered.

Catherine looked over at the blond, three minutes had passed. Assuming she had stopped breathing the second before they had been found, she didn't have much time left. The three circus performers were so focused on the blond, that they didn't realize the dark-haired girl had slightly cracked her eyes open. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


*************

  
  
  
  
  
  


(Soundtrack: Glycerine, by Bush)

What? Where? I reeled in pain. I opened my swelled eyes as far as I could and saw a figure prostrate on the ground with long blond hair. Minako. Three figures were crouching around her, trying CPR without away success. I unfocused my eyes slightly and looked at her with my Othersight. The crouching figures glowed a healthy green, but Minako's weakly pulsating orange light was nearly completely faded. I tried to call out to her, to tell her not to die, I couldn't stand to be all alone in this strange world, but all I produced were some soft gasping sounds. I think I had a punctured lung somewhere. If only I'd been stronger, the other scouts would have been alive. All my fault. Always my fault. I gathered up my remaining energy and as much of my lifeforce as I could, and weakly stretched my hand out towards Mina, she had nearly faded completely now, I could hear the frustrated sobs of our would-be rescuers. At least I could do this right. With all my remaining strength I released the energy into the ground. Instantaneously Mina gasped slightly and began to breathe. I could hear sirens as I faded, she would be all right, I could at least save one. "Be happy Minako. Be happy..." I mouthed before succumbing to the darkness. 

Trowa and the ambulance arrived at nearly the same time. Unsurprisingly, since the closest city had just suffered and OZ siege, Trowa was a more skilled paramedic than these volunteers. Anyone with any real medical skill was too desperately needed in the over-crowded hospital. The last siege had been a bad one, destroying many buildings, often with the residents still in them. They gratefully let Trowa take over, and instead gaped at the blond, who looked as if she should be, by all rights, dead, but was breathing easily, yet her friend with more minor injuries was having difficultly. 

"We can take them to the hospital for emergency surgery," the driver said, "But we have no room for them after that." He said sadly, "You seem to have adequate medical skills," he said, talking to Trowa, " Do you have a place they could stay for their recovery." 

Trowa was slightly uncomfortable under the weight of the gazes of all assembled. Catherine looked up at him with teary, bloodshot eyes. "Please, Trowa?" she asked quietly," After all we've done to keep them alive..." she trailed off, a pleading look in her eyes. 

He sighed softly and gave the paramedics the Sydney address as he got into the ambulance. "I'll meet you back at camp." He mouthed to Catherine through the window of the ambulance. She nodded, and smiled sadly. 

Well...this had certainly been his most...interesting visit to date. Heero was going to kill him.

  
  
  
  
  
  


************

  
  
  
  
  
  


(Soundtrack: Sleeping Beauty, by A Perfect Circle)

I woke slowly into an unfamiliar world, "what-the..where..how...." I mumbled as I rubbed at my eyes. They were slightly blurry and they hurt to focus, as if they hadn't been opened for a very long time. The room I lay in was very...white. White walls, white floors, white curtains and a white bed that I happened to be currently occupying. A flash of movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention and I sat up defensively, but gasped at the sudden pain. "What is going on?" I whimpered, then looked over at the large mirror that had caused me to bolt upright. "Omigod, I'm a monster." My long blond hair had been unskillfully cut in uneven layers, averaging at about shoulder-blade length, but my hair wasn't the upsetting thing, I could always grow it back. A long scar, still an angry magenta color, but glossy and semi-healed trailed down into the low, loose neckline of my gown. Further inspection showed it to end at around my navel, joining with other, ugly scars that radiated out from that point. Suddenly, as if a dam had broken, I remembered the fight, remembered the youma with huge claws bearing down on me, the horrible ripping feeling, and the absolute terror as I realized that I was going to die. "Maybe Hotaru could...no...wait, she must have died along with the others. I deserve this. I failed in my duty." The Queen was dead and these scars were all that were left of my past, everyone else was dead. This left me with one burning question, why am I still alive? 

I somehow got the feeling as if these scars were all I had left to cling to, this world was somehow completely unfamiliar. I drew back the curtain beside my bed and gasped. Gasping turned out to be a very bad idea, and sent a spasm of pain through my torso, but the sight merited my astonishment, Hotaru lay in the bed next to me, unconscious. "Toto? I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." I tried to make light of the situation to myself, like I would have before the massacre, but it didn't work too well. An unnoticed tear slipped down my cheek as I finally wept. Whether it was for my marred beauty, from my pain, my broken vows, or my fallen comrades, I honestly couldn't say.

  
  
  
  
  
  


************

  
  
  
  
  
  


(Soundtrack: Clint Eastwood, by Gorrilaz)

"It's quite fascinating actually." Iria said excitedly, acting more like Duo than her usual mellow self. "Their recuperative abilities are nothing short of amazing!" Quatre only half-listened to his sister excitedly jabbering on. "I mean, it's been nearly less than a week, LESS THAN A WEEK, and Star's scars are already nearly half-healed! Also, Trinity's leg and arm are nearly completely healed, as well as her rib and we were able to take her off the respirator because her lung has completely restructured itself! It's incredible, I'd LOVE to get my hands on whatever is making this possible." Iria grinned. 

Quatre sighed, taking a deep breath before answering his overly-excited sister. "Iria, calm down, and stop talking about Star and Trinity that way. They're human beings, not guinea pigs."

Iria continued to smile, despite her younger brother's admonishments. "I can't help it...but.." her grin slipped slightly, "It is rather worrying that though Trinity is nearly completely healed, she still hasn't woken from the comatose state in which she was found. Another odd piece of the puzzle." With that, she went to go check on her patients. 

Quatre just shook his head and followed at a more sedate pace to the lab and medical facility. He had finally demanded that he be allowed to see his guests, and Iria had been forced to comply. Not that there was a burning urge to greet them before they had emerged from their comas, but his ulterior motive was to keep an eye on Iria. He was beginning to thing she would begin to actually commence the experiments she spoke of with longing looks in her eyes. "That's it." He determined resolutely, "I am never letting the doctors stay anywhere near my sisters again." Then again, maybe Iria had just hid her slightly macabre sense of humor well, after all, she named her patients after their scars and injuries if no one knew their names. Star, because the scars from being gutted left a slight star formation, and Trinity, because she had three major injuries, broken arm, broken leg, and a punctured lung, and they made a triangle. He seriously worried about his sister sometimes. 

Lost in his thoughts, Quatre abruptly slammed into his sister, standing in open-mouthed shock at the young woman sitting up in bed, blinking kittenishly at the girl who lay beside her. Iria retreated, wide-eyed, pulled Quatre along with her, before Star noticed them. "That just isn't possible." She said shaking her head, and going back to the lab for different equipment, leaving Quatre standing there, rather confused. 

He walked back to the room, Star was now lying back on her bed, her big blue eyes unfocused and staring at the ceiling, crying silently. "Hello?" He ventured timidly. Her head immediately snapped up to look at her. The tears still slipped down her face silently, she didn't appear to notice that she had been crying. 

"Hel..lo.." she croaked, then cleared her throat and tried again, "Hello. Where am I?" she asked, looking confused and strangely sad. Quatre felt his mouth go dry. She was beautiful.

There ya go! Everyone who wanted a Minako/Quatre romance, there ya go it won't be easy though. As for Hotaru, I'm still undecided.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. 

  
  
  
  


"Hel..lo" 

She was beautiful.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, then she repeated, "Hello?..uhm...do you speak English?" 

"Wha?" Quatre stammered, "Oh! I'm terribly sorry, my name is Quatre Rebarba Winner and you are currently in the medical facilities of my house..." he trailed off as she frowned.

"You have a hospital in your house?" Minako asked, wrinkling her nose in disbelief.

"Er...yes." Quatre said rather bluntly, all his mansions had a medical facility, for not only practical reasons, but because bringing the gundam pilots to a regular hospital was often impossible, and overly dangerous. As much as this girl's beauty had struck him, he wasn't inclined to share his secrets, especially when they weren't his alone to reveal.

"Oh." Minako replied, but thankfully she let the situation drop, "You must be pretty rich then." She grinned suddenly at him.

Quatre's heart nearly stopped under the force of her smile... "Uh..er..um...no...I mean...yeah..erm..maybe?" 

Minako just giggled slightly, "Well, Quatre Rebarba Winner, how, exactly did I end up in your house?"

"Well Star, you were wounded pretty badly when Trowa's friends found you on the highway, but you have recovered with remarkable speed." Explained Quatre .

"Oh? How long was that?"

"Seven days, and six hours," Iria responded as she walked into the room. "You're a very lucky girl, Star, I expected you, even at the remarkable speed you've been healing at, to be in a coma for at least another month or two. My name is Iria Winner, I'm your doctor" She smiled kindly down at the confused girl. "Quatre could you get her some water, while I check her temperature?" She asked, politely.

When both Iria and Quatre had turned their backs, Minako mouthed "Star??"

Iria turned back toward Mina, thermometer in hand, chuckling slightly, "I can see by the confused expression on your face that your name isn't Star, do you care to share it with us so I can put in on your chart?"

Minako blushed, "It's Minako, Aino Minako."

"Well, Minako, it's a pleasure to meet you," she then turned to her younger brother, "Quatre, could you carry her down to the lab for me? I need to run some tests to make sure there's no infection." 

Quatre nodded, and picked up a squirming Mina, chuckling as she protested, "I can walk, you know. How come she didn't ask ME if I wanted to go for some tests?" 

"Yes, but we wouldn't want you to pull your stitches, would we? And she didn't ask you because you have no choice it's for your own good." 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She complained half-heartedly. She didn't want to go for tests, in fact, she hated tests, they always seems to involve lots of unnecessary needles. As Quatre said, she didn't really have much of a choice, but if she was going to be prodded at , and used as a human pincushion, then at least she was getting carried there by a good looking blond guy. She was surprised that he had lifted her so easily, she had probably lost some weight in the past week, but there had to be some definite hidden strength in that slim form. He couldn't be more than an inch or two taller than her 5'2, and was only slightly wider. She leaned back into his arms, the scent of his expensive cologne surrounding her, and looked up at him, slightly dizzy at his closeness, "Why do you call me Star?"

He smiled down at the beautiful girl smiling up at him, "Well, Miss Minako, you were in a coma, we had to call you something. Besides," he added, " I like the name Star. It suits you." 

She blushed, feeling guilty. Her friends had sacrificed themselves only a few days ago, and here she was, flirting! Her spirits plummeted and her eyes began to tear again, she looked away quickly, so Quatre would see her cry, and pry into the cause.

That was when she happened to glance out of the window, buildings were crumbled and over grown, the streets were in a sad state of disrepair, and the windows of some shops were smashed in. It was a wasteland, straight out of one of Usagi's futuristic manga. "Quatre," she asked weakly, "Just where is your estate?"

Quatre looked back at her astonished expression with wide, confused, aquamarine eyes, "Australia, why?"

"Australia wasn't like this in the world of Crystal Tokyo.." she realized silently, had things changed so much in the time she'd been unconscious? Or.. "Quatre," she continued tensely, not answering his question, "Does everywhere look like this?" 

Quatre raised an eyebrow in one of those doubting expressions he pretends he doesn't have, "No...this is actually one of the less war-torn areas on earth." Didn't she about the war?

Minako gulped, but bravely ventured on, though her voice trembled slightly, "What-what year is it?"

Quatre looked at her quizzically, "O-kay, maybe she has a slight amnesia," He looked at her quizzically as he answered her question, "It's the year A.C. 196,"

Minako paled even further. Quatre was beginning to worry, "What does A.C. stand for?" she squeaked.

"After Colony."

"Colony?"

"Yes, the colonies in space."

"Space?" 

"Are you just repeating the last word of everything I say?" he said, confused and more than a little frustrated at her odd behavior.

"No," Minako blushed further, "Just..one more thing, was there ever a giant crystal palace in Tokyo?" 

"No, Miss Star, there wasn't."

"You're sure?"

"I'd remember a giant crystal palace, Miss Star." 

"Oh," she said weakly, "Just wanted to make sure." She was silent for a few minutes then... "Quatre?" 

"Yes Miss Star?"

"I think I'm going to be sick."


	4. 

  
  


The Necessary Evils

Part 4

By: Random Artemis

  
  


notes: sorry this part took so long to come out, and thanks for all the wonderful reviews! They mean so much to me! I have been in reach ahead (yes people, that's summer school . . . ugh . . . never again!) Anyway, I've been working on this, but I haven't had time to post, so there will be much posting in the next week or so, so keep checking back! I've finished part 5, but I just need it edited. 

REVIEWS ARE OUR FRIENDS, they make me happy and write faster, and then there's more stories for you to read . . . ahh . . . I love win/ win situations like this! 

  
  


SPECIAL THANKS to everyone helped me with this story! And who have been ever-so graciously beta-reading for me! 

Enough babbling, on with the story!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


HOTARU: 

Where am I? It was misty . . . and cold, really, really cold. Was this hell? God knows I deserved it for abandoning the others, but I'd always thought hell would be hot. I couldn't feel the rest of my body, only a searing, stabbing cold that almost burned. Actually, now that I thought about it, the fires of hell might be quite pleasant compared to this. It was dark, and cold, and I was miserable and lonely, and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I started seeing the dead. I thought I would have been used to seeing and talking to ghosts by now, but my skin still prickles and tingles, almost as if in protest every time it happens. That is, it would have been if I could still feel my skin.

A figure slowly advanced and solidified as it drew nearer and the mists parted for her. 

"Setsuna . . . " I whispered, and crumpled, sobbing. As ashamed as I am to admit it, I clung to her ethereal legs bawling, and begging her forgiveness. I expected her to admonish me, to punish me, to lay the rightful deaths of the senshi on my shoulders. The last thing I expected her to do was to gather me up in her arms and stroke my hair gently until I had finished crying. Once I had regained my wits, she straightened, once again aloof and distant.

"Saturn," she intoned. Not Hotaru, not Firefly, but the formal Saturn. I straightened and wiped away the remains of my outburst from my cheeks. "Saturn," she repeated, "Yes, you turned your back on us, and it might have been a mistake, but a choice you were given, and a choice you have made. There is no undoing of the past." A pained look crossed her face, "The battle was fought, and we were to be defeated, it is the course of time."

"I'm sorry Setsuna . . . I'm so sorry . . . " I murmured, looking shakily down at my mist-enshrouded feet, perilously close to tears. "I... it's my fault."

Setsuna shook her head slightly, "No, it is the course of time, your decision was a choice I gave you. Life or death, I pass no judgement, I was simply the keeper of time, sometimes catastrophes cannot be averted. You simply chose not to die, and brought a comrade in arms with you, whether or not you made the right decision rests entirely in what you make of this new life."

I don't know at what point it Pluto's speech that I started to cry again, but I did. "No! It wasn't right! It'll never be right! I should have died with you! Doing my duty, protecting...protecting my Queen . . . "

Setsuna merely shrugged, "If you truly need to atone, fight the evil I feel in this world, become their protector. Save their lives and their world, just as you did for ours countless times." She began to fade from sight, ". . . and little Saturn, there is no crime in choosing to live."

I turned away and whispered, "If I saved the world so many times, why couldn't I save the only people whoever mattered to me? I could only save one." I turned back to Pluto, but she was already gone. 

"Wake up little Firefly," Setsuna whispered across my mind, and spoke one final time. "Goodbye."

She had left me again. I was alone again. "Noooooooooooooo!" I screamed, jolting upright in bed, causing me to rip the I.V. out of my hand. My eyes snapped open and I panted, trembling from the force of my dream . . . no, my vision. 

A wet sensation stirred me from my shock. I watched in near fascination as a thick black-purple oozed slowly from my hand, where the I.V. had been torn from it. Since when did I bleed purple?

I wrinkled my nose in confusion, then remembered to turn off my Othersight, and suddenly it was back to a normal crimson. Well that was a relief. I slipped quietly out of bed and scanned the small complex quickly. Good. No one in sensing range, I began to creep out of the room, then realized I was wearing one of those gods-be-damned open backed hospital gowns. There was no way I was gonna make my grand escape in something like that. I searched all the cupboards in the room, but the best I could do was a large pair of dark-blue hospital pants that I had to roll up and pin several times to allow myself to walk without tripping over them, or them falling down, and a small T-shirt that could have belonged to the nursery. They fit, barely, though the T-shirt did put a slight amount of uncomfortable pressure on my broken ribs it was many times better than the billowing gown I had worn earlier. I slipped easily out of the complex and headed down the hall, it was then that I swiftly got lost.

  
  


Quatre carried Minako through the winding corridors of his mansion, glancing down at her periodically in concern. She stared blankly forward in shock, looking a bit green around the gills, even though he was sure she had nothing left to throw up. She whimpered every time they passed a window, burying her face in his chest, as if trying to hide. Not that he minded. Compared to the rest of the pilots, it wasn't often he got to play the strong, protecting hero. Even if he didn't exactly understand what he was protecting her against . . . perhaps she had partial amnesia or something of the sort. He would have shrugged, but he didn't want to disturb Minako, who seemed to have finally dozed off. She was a sweet, funny, beautiful girl. Sweet, but seriously odd. 

As they reached the lab, the entire building began to shake slightly, accompanied by harsh metallic grating. Quatre winced, the lab was right beside the gundam hanger, and the noise and vibration of the roof lifting and ramp lowering was especially loud here, where in other areas of the house it would have been barely noticeable. 

Minako woke with a start and stared up at him with wide, scared and confused eyes. "Please, please tell me I'm hallucinating and the house isn't squealing and vibrating worse than a junky motel room magic fingers bed?" 

Quatre chuckled, "Don't worry, it's just the hanger bay doors opening." 

"You have a hanger in here?" Minako said incredulously, "What else do you have, a bowling alley?" 

Quatre blushed slightly and Minako cracked up, the laughter was a bit hysterical, but genuine. 

Once she regained control of herself, she gasped, "Oh God, thank you Quatre, I needed that." She smiled brilliantly up at him and let herself be lowered gently to the ground to walk into the lab unassisted. 

Quatre glanced over his shoulder, wondering if it was Heero and Duo coming back from their mission, and if so, how to explain the situation without Heero killing either of the girls or him. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


*************

  
  
  
  
  
  


"Mission completed." Heero said, his voice void of emotion as he yanked his manically giggling partner away from the scene of destruction they had created. Duo was usually enthusiastic about his work, but this was just unnecessary. About a few minutes ago, his cold mask of Shinigami, the god of death, his battle persona, had cracked a huge smile and began to babble excitedly about how death had awoken and his sister in soul, the Shi no Tenshi, the ultimate destroyer of worlds had finally come. That was five minutes ago, right now he was prancing about in deathscythe singing ecstatically, protesting strongly as Wing Zero grabbed Deathscythe HELL and forcibly removed him from the scene. 

Heero, if he dared show any emotion, would have sighed, he knew Duo was crazy, but this was even weirder than usual. He didn't notice that Duo had become very quiet until they arrived back at Quatre's stronghold. He exited his gundam, and when Duo didn't follow, he climbed up Deathscythe and opened the cockpit. Duo was staring blankly ahead of him. Okay . . . Heero was beginning to become a bit worried. 

"Duo? Duo? Snap out of it!" He shook Duo, and when there still wasn't any response he slapped him sharply across the face. 

"OW!" Duo exclaimed. "Fuck, Heero, what the hell was that for?"

"Hn." 

"Fine," Duo grumbled as he blinked a few times, "Don't answer, as we all know, stupid Duo can just be beat up for no reason whatsoever and no explanation is needed." He scowled at Heero. 

Heero, however, remained unfazed. "Duo, who . . . or what, is this Shi no Tenshi?"

"Huh? Shi no Tenshi? Angel of Death? I have no idea." Duo replied, thinking Heero had finally gone off the deep end. 

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Remember the Shi no Tenshi, the ultimate destroyer of worlds, the soul sister you were babbling about for a good ten minutes while I had to pull you away from the mission." Heero said exasperated. 

"Heero? Are you feeling alright?" Duo asked.

"But..." Heero began, then let it drop, either Duo really didn't remember his rather odd rant, or he wasn't going to tell him. Instead, he noticed something more interesting. A trail of what looked to be blood on the pristine white floor of the hanger, leading behind Heavyarms.

  
  
  
  
  
  


*******

  
  
  
  


I had wandered into some sort of hanger complex, but the machines contained where like nothing I'd ever seen before. They were huge, humanoid robots, each nestled in an alcove in the wall. There were three of the huge machines, followed by two empty alcoves... Fascinating. "Where did you send us Setsuna?" I wondered out loud, then cringed as my voice echoed in the huge hanger bay. Not a very subtle escape, girl. Where on earth (or wherever the hell we were) was Minako? I had been looking all over this place and had found neither exit, nor companion. I winced as I wavered slightly, my vision fading in and out. Apparently it was not a good idea to go traipsing all over a mansion built like a fortress when one had just woken up from a coma. I leaned up against giant robot closest to me, leaving a blood smeared hand-print on one of it's legs. Damn, the place where I'd ripped the I.V. out was still bleeding. I looked behind me, I'd inadvertantly left a little trail of blood droplets behind me. I groaned inwardly, I may as well have constructed a huge neon arrow. "Escaped medical patient here!" I had never been a fast healer without my powers, and right now, my lifeforce was so low that I could not even heal a small cut on my hand. I had left myself helpless when I gave up so much of my power to let Minako live, but then again, I hadn't really expected to live through this anyway. I leaned on the leg of the giant machine, sliding slowly down to a sitting position behind the huge thing. The blood loss hadn't really helped my energy level any. 

Suddenly, the roof of the building lifted, and a long ramp was extended from the top of a wall. Two more of the machines walked into the complex. A white one, half-dragging, half-carrying a black one. Well, this was interesting. They stomped over to the other side of the room, their weight causing the floor to vibrate, making me feel nauseated and very, very glad I was already sitting down. When the huge thing's chest sprung open and a teenaged boy leapt from the platform, landing nimbly almost three stories below , I finally passed out from shock.

  
  
  
  


******

  
  
  
  
  
  


Mina lay back on the x-ray table, as Iria operated the various machines. Results from another machine began to spew out of the printer, Iria rushed over to gather them before they spilled onto the floor. She glanced at the results and paled. Quatre, seeing this, rushed over from the chair where he had been sitting. "What is it Iria? What's wrong with the results? Is Miss Star alright?" He whispered, an faint tinge of panic that he couldn't quite explain edging into his voice. "What's wrong? Is she sick?"

Iria cleared her throat slightly, trying to clear the lump that had formed there. "No, not exactly." She glanced over at the oblivious Minako who was absentmindedly playing with her hair. Fidgeting at she waited impatiently. Iria didn't believe the results. She just looked so normal. Clearing her throat again, she turned back to her anxious younger brother. "I don't believe this." 

  
  
  
  


*******

  
  
  
  
  
  


Heero stalked over to Heavyarms, Duo following a few paces behind. Heero rolled his eyes, expecting another dummy, maybe of Trieze or Zechs, that Duo had rigged as a practical joke. What he found however, was a blood-spattered teenage girl, breathing shallowly and bleeding all over Heavyarms. He frowned, civilian or not, she had seen their Gundams, unfortunate, but she still had to die. 

He pulled his gun in a movement too quick for the eye to follow. Just as quickly, her eyes snapped open and her supernatural strength crushed the barrel as Heero was pulling the trigger.

Their eyes locked coldly and held, each refusing to admit defeat. 

Heero looked at the crushed gun in his hand. It was gundanium. "You're not human." He intoned

Her eyes narrowed, refusing to give any ground, "Neither are you." She replied quietly, her eyes breaking away from Heero to study Duo with a hard, incriminating stare, "Neither of you are."

  
  
  
  


to be continued..... so? So? SO? *eyes water pathetically* is it okay?

Please review! Thanks so much!


	5. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Romance begins for our young lovers..and boy, is it going to be a rocky ride...

  
  
  
  


"Um, Iria? What don't you believe? Iria?.... Iria??" Quatre asked, a bit worried for his sister. She looked as if she had seen a ghost. He waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't move. He frowned and snapped his fingers inches away from her nose. 

She jumped and laughed sheepishly, with a slightly nervous edge. "Oh, heh, nothing...sorry. Why don't you go see your friends, I want to have a little talk with Star here."

Quatre's frown deepened, a little line appearing between his eyebrows. "What aren't you telling me?" He said, uncharacterisically blunt. 

"Nothing you'd be interested in," Iria said, attempting nonchalance, "Just...girl stuff."

The little crease between Quatre's eyebrows deepened. "What girl stuff would make you pale like that? Iria, I'm a big boy now, you don't need to protect me from whatever...this...is." He glanced over at Minako, who was now toying with the hem of her hospital gown, looking quite endearing and harmless. Of course enemies had made that mistake about him before he drew his gun, still with an innocent expression, and opened fire. Maybe she wasn't all she seemed, maybe she was more, either way, his heart sunk. "Stupid," he thought, "Can't let my guard down for a pair or big teary blue eyes, or an innocent face. This is war, I am a soldier. I am not as weak as everyone thinks me to be."

Iria frowned back at his impudence, "It's just girl stuff Q, you know, periods...tampons..."

Quatre snapped out of his thoughts, blushing furiously, "I..uh... better check on the guys, bye!" He stammered and rushed out the door. 

Iria chuckled, her little brother might be as gentle as they come, and in comfortable with his feminine side, but he was still male, and no male, dead or alive, wanted to be in the room if the icky, biological girl stuff was being discussed. 

I stared at trigger-happy boy.

Trigger happy boy stared at me.

The long haired friend stared, open-mouthed at the crushed gun. "Shit." he mouthed as he walked toward us, his own gun drawn. 

My vision started to waver again, my senshi reflexes had kicked in a last burst of adrenaline, but it was fading fast. I wavered, trying to hold the angry boy's gaze. I met his eyes, and suddenly, I didn't feel so good. 

A shorter blond boy just had time to skid into the room, breaking into a run as he saw the scene, shouting something unintelligible, waving his arms frantically, before I unceremoniously passed out.

  
  


Heero looked at the girl, then at his gun, then at Quatre, who was babbling a mile a minute about how she is a guest and not to shoot her. Apparently Quatre hadn't seen his gun, because he couldn't shoot her now anyway, and he had the odd feeling that even if he did, it wouldn't do much good anyway. He grunted and holstered his ruined gun. He glanced back at Duo who was softly muttering, and pinching himself. Heero couldn't hear what Duo was saying, but he had a strong suspicion it was some from of American profanity. He could speak English nearly fluently, but cursing in English was never something he quite got the hang of. He didn't particularily care, Spanish was the best language for expletives anyway, they had so many creative words.... but it would have been handy to know what Duo was calling him whenever he got mad, or insults Duo could understand. Duo's grasp of Japanese was sketchy at best. Often he wished they shared a common mother-tongue, they could have avoided many minor clashes and misunderstandings that way. It was odd though, he'd had no trouble understanding Duo's rant earlier... It was then that he realized that Duo had been babbling in Japanese. Heero shook his head, and turned back to Quatre. The perfect soldier pushed his discoveries to the back of his mind for later contemplation, concentrating instead on the matter at hand. "Explain." He said bluntly the Quatre, pointing at the bloody, unconscious girl. 

  
  


"Hi Dr. Winner!" Minako chirped. Her smile faded a little, Ami had wanted to be a doctor so badly...

"Iria, please," Iria replied.

"Huh?" Minako said, blushing a little at her tendancy to get lost in her memories, she just couldn't, wouldn't, believe that it was all gone. 

Iria smiled tiredly at her, "I said, please call me Iria. Dr. Winner makes me feel old."

"Okay Iria," Minako replied, "How are my tests?"

"Perfect," Iria said.

"Oh good," Minako said, attempting to slip off the x-ray table, but Iria's hand stopped her.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Iria said, her face less friendly, more serious. 

"Oh." Mina said, then gulped and shifted back fully onto the cold, uncomfortable table. "Uh...okay."

  
  


Heero reluctantly carried the girl back to the infirmary, being explained by Quatre as a war victim that Trowa had found, and could not find a hospital for their recovery. Damn them and their soft hearts. This person, and the other one, wherever she was, were dangers to the mission. While he was fairly sure no one would let themselves be carved up for the off-chance that the gundam pilots would come along and rescue them, but they still might be connected to oz in some way. Innocent civilians or not, they were simply liabilities. He sighed, and continued to trudge purposefully up the stairs. He wasn't quite sure how he'd been talked into carrying the girl back to the infirmary. "Damn Quatre and his soft heart, and his puppy dog eyes." He grumbled. 

  
  


"So Minako, you realize that only days ago, you were nearly dead, found on the road with your companion, gutted like a fish." Iria began conversationally.

"Minako looked a little bit nauseated, "Yes, well, that's what I've been told, I was unconscious at the time..."

Iria nodded, "Well, here you are, in perfect health, a week later, walking and talking with no infection, no overwhelming pain or weakness, and very little scarring?" 

"I guess so." Mina replied, she'd always been a fast healer, even before her senshi powers emerged, it was a natural gift. She shrugged.

Iria shook her head, between annoyance and disbelief. "Your test results are abnormal...no inhuman, to say the least."

Minako fidgeted nervously while Iria paused to gather her thoughts. 

"What I'd like to know, Minako, is what are you, exactly, and," she paused to steady herself, trying not to look as scared as she felt. The power levels registered had been incredible, almost the equal of a gundam. Logic told her it had to be some sort of glitch, that no one could contain that much power in their body without simply exploding, but her heart was hammering and if she hadn't been sweating every drop of liquid out of her body, she probably would have wet herself in fear. "...and... do you mean us any harm?" she finally stammered out. 

Mina met Iria's eyes, seeing the abject terror in her shaky gaze. Iria was afraid of her. "Don't be afraid," she pleaded mentally, "I'm not a monster, don't fear me, don't hate me..."

  
  


*******

"...Hate me..." My voice echoed around in my head, 

"Yes, hate you..." a ghostly voice replied. My Queen came into view, black smoke billowing around her.

"No!" I cried, "Don't hate me, I didn't mean to! I didn't think!"

"No you didn't think, you never, ever do, you stupid child." Haruka replied rising from the black mist.

"Never thinking, just betraying your friends, stupid, useless Hotaru," Michiru added, coming up to lay a hand on her lover's shoulder. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I wailed, sobbing.

"Hotaru..." I heard Setsuna call from behind me, I whirled throwing myself blindly into her arms. Her hands wrapped around my shoulders, then tightened around my neck. She was choking me! I caught her gaze, her eyes maliciously red, nothing like the last time she had appeared to me. 

"You killed us Hotaru," she growled, her voice deepening, becoming more threatening.

"You're..not...Setsuna..." I choked out, gasping suddenly as my throat was released, waking with a start, soaked in a cold sweat. Was this the evil that Setsuna had warned me about? Or had it just been a nightmare? Something shuffled politely in the open doorway behind me. I dove for the floor, in ingrained habit that Haruka had mercilessly pounded into an instinct, rolling to my feet and scanning the area for danger coming up nose-to-nose with a startled blond carrying a cup of tea. I was on eye level with him, which therefore made him short. I had 'shot up' in the past year, at least that's what Haruka and Michiru had said. Damn, remembering them hurt, 'That was not them in the dream' I reminded myself, but still, I wasn't completely sure. I was taller than Minako by a few inches now, but the grand height of 5'5 wasn't at all impressive, especially for a guy. 

The short blond jumped slightly in surprise at my sudden movement, but to his credit, he didn't leap backwards, or spill his cup of tea. We stood there, sizing each other up, until an unfamiliar brown-haired boy with oddly gravity-defying bangs walked into the room, carrying a tray of food. He set down the tray, and took in the scene before him. He raised an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe, looking subtly dangerous. 

I was the first to break eye contact. "Uh.. Sorry." I said quietly, "You just surprised me, habit took over I guess..." I continued awkwardly, trailing off. The brunette simply nodded in understanding, and the blond looked at me curiously for a few more moments, before replying; 

"Dinner is on the tray. My name is Quatre Winner, is my house." He said relaxing minutely, looking at me as if I had confirmed a dreaded fear of his. "The tall brunette is Trowa, the longhaired one is Duo, and the one who pointed a gun at you is Heero. Wufei you haven't met yet."

"Is he planning a dramatic entrance like the rest of you?" I snapped. I really didn't mean to, it just slipped out! Besides, he was staring at me like I'd broken his heart. Good job Hotaru, you know these people for less than an hour, and already I'm fucking up. As usual.

He looked at my face, which I suppose was somewhat crestfallen, and softened. He sighed, "Sorry," he said, shaking his head, "It's just been a really odd day."

I brightened a little, attempting a smile, "Tell me about it."

He smiled a little in return, "I didn't know what you liked, so I had the cooks make a variety. Eat as much or as little as you like, if you need anything, just use the buzzer," he said pointing to a little red button beside the bed. He turned to leave, pausing just before the door, turning back to face me, "I'm sorry," he apologized, "What's your name?" 

I looked up, surprised at his concern, "Tomoe Hotaru." I replied. 

He nodded slightly, "It's a pleasure to meet you Hotaru, even if it was slightly...unconventional." he smiled, as I blushed slightly. It was only after he left that I realized I'd forgotten to ask about Minako. 

  
  


Quatre closed the door behind him and leaned his back against it, eyes closed. Maybe if he wished really hard, he could wake up. The problem was, we wasn't sure he wanted this to be a dream. As soon as he had set eyes on Minako there had been something awoken in him. Problem is, he didn't know what the hell it was. "Please don't let it be the beginnings of love..." he groaned inwardly. Hotaru, with her lightning-quick combat reflexes had shown that there was no way that they were innocent victims of the war. He knew he couldn't afford a relationship with a civilian... but a potential enemy, that would just be suicide. He flinched as he forced himself to think like a soldier, it physically hurt to think of Minako as an enemy. "But I have to, I can't take any chances, the fates of millions, billions even lie in our hands." he resolved as his space heart sent another spasm of pain through him.

  
  


Minako:

I fliched, as an unfamiliar tingling spread through my chest. It seemed to be probing...odd. I gasped as a searing pain ripped through my heart, "What's happening?" I panted, tumbling to the floor. Waves of pain washed over me... blurring my vision until all I could see was red. 

  
  


"I am a soldier.. I can do this." Thought Quatre as he braced himself against the next wave... he concentrated on his training.

  
  


Suddenly, my vision cleared, odd, because the pain kept coming. Scenes of a life in fast forward flew by me, pausing every now and then on a particularily important event, a birth, and moments later, a death. A childhood, growing up an object, lonliness, and feeling lost and unwanted. It quickly became apparent, once the scenes neared puberty, that the main protagonist was Quatre. She saw him meeting the Magnuacs, discovering the gundam and piloting it, she saw him kill for the first time, and was disgusted with the vision, but soon replaced with sympathy as he cried at the end of the battle, and prayed to Allah to guide the souls of the soldiers he killed to paradise, they were just doing their jobs. It soon became apparent that Quatre was a dedicated soldier, and though often viewed as weak by others because he retained his kind heart, he was stronger for it...

  
  


Quatre began to waver, as he held out. "What's happening?" he cried mentally. Minako, looking rather young, aroung 12 or 13, flashed by his field of vision, moving at an inhuman speed, moving swiftly through unfamiliar streets, a white cat perched on her shoulder. She ducked and weaved through the busy streets of an unfamiliar european country, coming to an abrupt halt in front of a dark alleyway. He heard high, shrill cries of pain. The image of Minako smiled ferally. Quatre felt bile rise in his throat, was she going to stop to enjoy the poor woman's pain? Apparently not. Still grinning she dove right into the fight, the white cat leaping off her shoulder to land gracefully on the top of a dumpster. Darting behind the mugger, turns out the perpetrator this time was a woman, she grabbed a fistful of long hair, and pulled her off the other, struggling woman. The mugger was so startled by Minako's sudden appearance that she dropped her gun, jerking against Mina's iron grip. Mina's smile slipped a little as she groped for something with her free hand, finally coming up with a pair of handcuffs from somewhere behind her, and cuffed the offender's hands around a rung of the dumpster. The mugger thrashed against the cuffs, finally realizing what was going on, with the lightning quickness the situation he moved at. She began the curse and struggle, spitting on Mina's shoes. 

"Ewww..." she said, speaking for the first time in this episode, "That's really nasty, not to mention rude." The mugger glared at her, slightly confused... this wasn't the way things were supposed to happen. 

The dazed victim stood slowly, teetering on her heels as she brushed off her ruined skirt, and turned shakily to Minako, "T-thank you," she stammered. "Y-you saved my life!" 

Minako grinned, "All part of the job! Do you think you can get the police yourself? Those handcuffs will hold until they get here..."

"Yes," the woman replied, looking a great deal more steady than she had a few moments ago, "I have a cellphone. Who are you? Where were you keeping the handcuffs?"

"Sailor V, friendly neighborhood freedom fighter!" she struck a dramatic pose, "but as for the handcuffs..." she trailed off, winking at the woman and leaning in close to whisper, "Don't ask unless you really want to know..." Then, she was gone, patrolling the streets once again, and the scene in Quatre's mind faded to eight women, one of them Minako now her present age, and beside her, was Hotaru, but the rest he did not recognize. They stood in a protective arc in matching mini-skirted uniforms around a beautiful couple with a child between them and three cats at their feet, they appeared to be royalty. Behind them was an enormous crystal palace, "So this is what Minako was talking about," He mused, as he suddenly realized he was inside Minako's memories. 

"No," Quatre resolved, "She's good. I don't know how or why, but I'm sure, my space heart tells me so. She is not evil, I can't think of her like that, even if she could be dangerous... somehow I know she wouldn't voluntarily hurt us..." and abruptly, the pain stopped. That left four mysteries to contemplate; What is this 'Sailor V' persona and what is she capable of in that identity, where is she from, who were the other women and the regal couple in the vision, and probably the most pressing mystery of all, just where WAS she keeping those handcuffs?

  
  



	6. 6

  
  


Hey, welcome to they sixth exciting chapter! Hey? Where are you going? It didn't take me THAT long!

Anyway, review and I'll write faster *evil grin*

  
  


Thanks to all of my readers, especially those who review! *hint hint*, and to Princess Venus (or Tensei) , Arielle and Charlotte who have all helped me a lot with this story!

Read on!

  
  


Disclaimer: I own nothing! Nothing! 

  
  
  
  


Meanwhile, Back in Hotaru's room...

  
  


Hotaru:

  
  


Well... that was odd. First I embarrass myself, along with my host, then there's those weird energy pulses that came about five minutes later..... I glared down at the sushi on my plate, that's it! I'm never eating un-cooked meat again, damn hallucinations...Oh well, at least they seem to be fairly harmless, for all their freaky machine-things. My host and his friends, not the sushi. Actually, scratch that, one of Quatre's friends had already made an attempt on my life. At least the food's good, not that I eat a lot anyway. I took a sip out of the white pop can that had been left with my dinner. Oh gross! Milk! I spat it out, spraying my tray. I looked down, feeling rather sheepish, but the milk splattered all over my remaining meal made me lose my appetite fairly quickly. I pushed the rolling hospital table-tray away from my bed, deciding to go for a bit of a walk. After triumphing over some very stubborn raised safety sides on the bed (my ribs weren't exactly ready to let my leap over the safety sides into a tumbling roll again) I stumbled out into the hallway. I hobbled down the corridor wincing as I jarred my sore, cracked ribcage. My t-shirt, now not only midget-sized, but splattered with blood (sadly, my own) and milk. Priority number one, replacing 'find Minako', or 'escape', was 'find new clothes'.

  
  


*****

  
  


After a short while, she became winded, sitting with her back to the wall. She heard soft curses and the whistling of a sword through air. Breathing deeply, she relaxed, closing her eyes and stretching her other senses, trying to pinpoint source of the swordsman. She had always loved watching Haruka and Michiru fence, sometimes they were joined by Rei and Makoto, the other martial art-inclined senshi, but most of the time, they practiced alone. Haruka and Michiru whirling around each other with deadly grace and precision. Michiru had later confided in Hotaru that she had no interest in swordplay, but she had learned simply because it was the nearest thing to dancing that Haruka would participate in.

  
  


She said a small prayer for them. At least they had died in each other's arms, together forever. She located the swordsman, not very far from here at all. She weaved through the confusing hallways, and because she had locked onto her target with the Othersight, occasionally bumping into inanimate things, elicting muffled curses. She turned the corner into the practice room and de-activated her Othersight. There a lean chinese boy, maybe a year or two older than her moved gracefully from in his kata, flowing from movement to movement. She entered the room quietly, unnoticed by the boy, sitting just to the side of the door. He finished, a light sheen of sweat glistened on his skin and a look of intense concentration on his face. He held his finishing pose for a few moments, chest heaving, before relaxing. In his intense focus, he didn't notice her presence until she politely, if a little shyly cleared her throat. 

He whipped around to face her, fury, and another emotion, perhaps embarrassment?, blazing across his features, Hotaru was taken aback by this, but anger soon turned to shock, with a small flicker of hope. "Meiran?" he asked, almost in awe.

  
  
  
  
  
  


******

  
  


"Minako! Minako! Are you alright?" Iria asked worriedly.

"Nng.. What happened? Oww..." Minako moaned as she rubbed her head were she had hit the edge of the examining table when she had her vision. 

"You suddenly collapsed, are you okay?"

Minako glared at Iria, clutching her rapidly purpling cheek bone.

"Okay, stupid question," Iria replied, laughing, but stopped to watch in awe as the swelling abruptly stopped and reversed itself, healing her bruise in a matter of minutes. Her gaze became wary once again, "You never answered my question. What are you?" 

Minako squirmed uncomfortably under the weight of Iria's glare, rubbing her face. "Would you believe, an innocent bystander with a gift for healing?"

"No."

"Damn." Minako cursed. She sighed, seeing as Iria had planted herself firmly between Mina and the door, there was no way out. Sure, Mina could just knock Iria out of the way, but then again, it's not considered good manners to assault your host's sister. "Okay," she continued resignedly, "But you're really not gonna believe this, and you're going to have to swear an oath of secrecy." She shook her head, "This is a bad idea, Hotaru is going to kill me, and Luna would be spinning in her grave right now." She shrugged and began her tale. "A long long time ago, there was a beautiful palace on the moon..."

  
  


*****

Interlude; Enter villan...

  
  


The room was completely dark, save for the dozens of video and computer feeds that flickered their light sporadically as they sifted through information. They were here. They had to be, I had felt them, I had Dreamed with the psychic of the pair, I will find them. They would destroy everything again, everything that I had rebuilt. I must find them, and when I do, I will kill them, then my weary soul can rest and enjoy the empire I have built. I will avenge my family.

"Mistress?" An orderly interrupted, breaking my concentration, losing precious seconds in my search.

"What?" I snapped, my eyes flashing red as I glared down at him from my perch in the throne-like communications center.

"Y-you have a meeting with Lady Une and Master Treize in half an hour." he stammered.

"Very well." I replied, dismissing him. "I shall be there." 

He stood there, gaping, rooted to the spot. 

I growled, "Get out!" I yelled, sending a chair to smash into the wall inches from his nose, just for emphasis. He got out.

I turned back to the many flickering screens, and patted the closest one lovingly. "Soon..." I grinned, "Soon I will have my revenge."

  
  


End interlude

*****

After four bouts of tears, Minako finally finished her story, "....So then we woke up here. I think you know the rest from here on..."

Iria stared at Minako. Minako bit her lip, staring nervously back at Iria. 

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Iria asked.

"Um.. Yeah?" Minako replied tentatively. 

Iria carefully sat down, glancing back at the lab printouts, then back at Minako. She pinched herself. Hard.

"Um..that won't help... I already tried that a few times when I first found out I wasn't on Earth... well my dimension... or is that my time? Err...." Minako trailed off awkwardly.

Iria sighed, rubbing her temples. "There has to be SOME scientific explanation." She insisted weakly.

"Yeah, that used to drive Ami-chan crazy. She was the scientist of our little family, she never found the answer." She offered a weak smile to Iria, fighting back tears.

"I guess I'm going to have to believe you then." Iria replied blankly, the entire tale was too fantastic, too tragic to be believed, but couldn't be denied, she held the evidence in her hands. "I suppose it doesn't mean anything, but I'm sorry." Minako nodded, her bottom lip trembling, Iria moved to wrap the younger girl in a comforting embrace. "Shh... let it out girl, you've seen more pain in your lifetimes than anyone could ever be expected to endure. It wasn't your fault, just let it out..." After a few minutes, Minako collected herself enough to walk back to her room, Iria called out to her just as she passed the doorway.

"It would probably be best if you didn't tell the others, I believe you, be they are much more skeptical, not to mention less trusting of science than I. Also, we are fighting a war, Quatre wouldn't hurt you, but some of the others might view you as a threat."

"Alright," Minako agreed, "I'll tell Hotaru, but why would they want to hurt me? We aren't soldiers in this war!"

Iria just shook her head, "You'll be told when and if they're ever ready to tell you. It's not my secret to tell."

  
  


*****

  
  


Hotaru:

  
  


Obviously this boy had mistaken me for someone else, and if I judged the look in his eyes correctly, I'd say it was someone he had loved, but not seen for a very long time. "I-I'm sorry, but my name is Hotaru..."

The hope on his face crumpled, and he turned away from me quickly. "Of course you couldn't be Meiran," he said softly, tensely, "You're just another stupid weak onna."

I sighed and said, "Whatever happened with her, I'm sorry." His voice had been too choked with hope that had been snatched away and true grief for me to actually be insulted by being called 'weak'. I had been called worse by Haruka-papa when I had accidentally sliced through the fuel line on her beloved motorcycle while I was practicing with my scythe in the garage. I won't repeat it, but I'm pretty sure it was anatomically impossible. Haruka... no, dammit, I refuse to let that damn youma ruin my life! I can't live like this, bursting into tears every other second... block it out, block it out....

The boy turned slightly back in my direction, looking at me coldly, "If she couldn't make it, no woman could. You are all weak, you disgust me."

I simply stood up carefully, going on like this would be useless, now to change the subject, "Fine, I'm weak, since you're so strong, why don't you teach me to defend myself? Those katas you were doing were amazing, I've never seen anything like them before, I'd like to learn them if I can."

He looked at me, startled at the sudden change of topics, then snorted. "This is the ancient art of the dragon clan. They are only taught to the most gifted pupils who can be trusted. They are forbidden to anyone who cannot perform with perfection." 

He looked at me fiercely, I realized he was right, I'd never been graceful or athletic. I turned to leave, why do I even try sometimes?

"Hey," he called softly, just as I'd reached the open door. I looked back to find him looking slightly embarrassed, and when I looked with Othersight his aura looked lonely. There was also something wrong with his aura that I couldn't place at the time. "I never said I would," he continued, "But I never said I wouldn't either."

He held out a practice sword to me, "My name is Chang Wufei."

"I'm Tomoe Hotaru." I replied, smiling slightly as I grasped the sword.

  
  


****

  
  


"Okay, I think it's just around this corner..damn!" Mina cursed her lousy sense of direction, "Where am I now?" She looked up to see towering stacks of books in the huge room. She whistled, "I think I know now, damn Quatre has everything in here! Hospital, hanger...library... Hey! Maybe there's a map of this disgustingly huge house somewhere!" She brightened and began to scan the massive bookshelves, however an open book on one of the reading tables caught her eye. There was a full page picture of two robots in full combat, the weird thing is, this wasn't a drawing, it was a photo. Minako put her hand down to mark the page and turned the book to read it's title. It read, "A Brief History of the Mobile Suit" "This is a HISTORY book?" Minako gasped, "This is REAL?" She turned the page, and began to read.

  
  


" _While great advancements were made in the field of mobile suits, it wasn't until the legendary 'Tallgeese' ( see fig 18-4) that this form of warfare_ _was truly popularized."_

  
  


Minako paused to turn the page,

  
  


_" Here is the tallgeese pictured with it's creator, the mysterious Dr. M."_

  
  


Minako frowned and squinted at the grainy old photo, and whispered in wonder, "Ami-chan?"

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Alright, I promise next chapter won't end in a cliffie *evil grin* 

so what do you guys think so far? Is it good? Bad? What do you like? What could be improved? 

Till next time... same bat time, same bat channel!

  
  



	7. 7

  
  
  
  


Disclaimer : I own nothing.

  
  


Thank you Princess Venus, Ariel, and Charlotte, as well as anyone else who's helped me with this, you guys are great! Also to anyone who has reviewed any of my work, you keep me inspired, thank you! 

  
  


NOTICE: Who ever gives me my hundredth review gets a prize! (I.e. a cameo appearance, art, requested plot twist.. etc! I have art up on my website, under Catherine Theriault, original Star wars art, I'm hoping to get some art for this story up there by christmas! Check it out!

  
  


IMPORTANT: READ THIS CHAPTER CAREFULLY, IF YOU SKIM YOU WILL BE LOST, TRUST ME. Any questions? E-mail me, cath_6@hotmail.com 

Hotaru:

  
  


Ow..... I didn't even know I had muscles there. I winced as I slowly lowered myself into bed. Sword practice with Wufei had been fun, but tiring, a strict reminder of how out of shape I was. My eyelids drooped closed, though I fought sleep's pull. My last two attempts had not been, well, pleasant to put it lightly. Nevertheless, the faithful Sandman paid me a visit as I drifted off to sleep. 

  
  


*******

  
  
  
  


Trowa sat in the surveillance room, checking up on security before he finished his duties and went to sleep. Most of the rooms were empty, but the Magnuacs were in the garage, Quatre was having tea with Iria in the sitting room, Heero was in the hanger, testing his new adjustments on Wing, Wufei was meditating on a mat in his room, the dark-haired girl was asleep in her room, and the blond girl, Minako if he remembered correctly, was immersed in a book in the Library. He made a mental note to send Quatre to find her, seeing as she would probably never make it back to her room from the other side of the mansion without expert help, even he still got lost sometimes. His brow creased slightly behind his bangs as he rapidly switched video feeds on his screens, yet one member of their party was still missing. 

First, he tried Duo's room, no luck. His sheets were mussed and his clothes from that day were on the floor, so he had probably just gotten out of bed for something. Trowa flipped the switches to first the kitchen, the television room, and then, somewhat reluctantly, the surrounding bathrooms. Still no trace of him. 

Trowa narrowed his eyes and switched to his own room, thankfully, there was no sign of Duo's scheming, or Duo himself. Having hot pink hair was once too many, and he had been cautious ever since. 

He leaned back from the monitors and bit his lip slightly, where could Duo be? 

A flash of movement on another monitor caught his eye, and he glanced over quickly.

Well, he thought, this answers one question. He had found Duo, but what was he doing in Hotaru's room?

  
  


********

  
  


Hotaru's eyes snapped open. Violet met violet across the room. She nodded slightly at the shadowed figure, and he moved closer, into the light. 

Duo stood there, his face blank as it had been hours earlier. He bowed stiffly, only bending in a slight inclination, conveying his respect, but not her superiority. 

She sat straighter in bed, smoothing the cotton sheets around her legs, she nodded her ackwonledgement. They were equals, no more formality had to be observed. 

"Shi no Tenshi." He said gravely, "You have returned."

"It was not I who left, Shinigami. I awoke with the senshi when the evil awoke, I notice you did not join us then." She replied coldly, her delicate jaw set, giving her features a harder look than before.

He shrugged, as if dismissing her accusation. "The timekeeper told me to wait, that I'd be needed here instead." He held out his hand, "What does it matter anyway? We're back together again, sister."

Hotaru gave him a withering look, narrowing her eyes and glaring.

Duo sighed and moved closer, still holding out his hand, "Come, take my hand, I've missed you sister."

"You mean you missed our power."

"Well," he smiled wanly, "I missed that too. Can't you feel it? I can, my power is.., is incomplete, awkward, weak."

"Yes," she replied grudgingly, "But you do know what will happen if we do this." She said, taking his hand.

"Tenshi, my little sib, our hosts have to find out about us eventually. We've been protecting them in battle for, what? Millennia? It's time we merged, you've already started without me. Your host, Hotaru? I believe you call yourselves these days, is already becoming more aggressive, has she not?"

"Yes." She replied reluctantly, sliding gracefully out of bed to stand face-to-face with her twin brother. "It's bound to happen anyway, so we may as well do it right." She reached out her right hand, now shimmering slightly with power to grasp her brother's and placed her left over her heart. "Just like the first time." She said, closing her eyes. They began to glow, faintly at first, then so incandescently that heat waves distorted the vision of the room, and singed the rug slightly where they were standing.

Death awakens death and their power is restored. 

  
  


******

  
  


Long ago:

  
  


Shini looked up at his sister Shi across the great palace hall where she stood with the outer senshi in a rigid salute as her Queen and Princess passed, surrounded by their senshi. Shini stood slightly less rigid across from her on the Princes' side of the ceremony. Shini was doing his best to catch Shi's eye but either his twin wasn't as psychic as she let on, or she was ignoring him. He voted 'B', she took her duty way too seriously. He rolled his eyes and risked a short telepathic message. :: Hey, Shi... bored yet?::

As he feared, she mentally slapped him, but to his surprise, she replied, :: No. We are on duty, besides, it's not every day your charge gets married.:: She let a slight smile through her stone-like mask.

:: That's what I mean! Who'd assassinate the Prince of your Princess on their wedding day?::

She looked up to glare at him, letting her expression speak for itself. As she met his eyes, he crossed them and stuck out his tongue. :: Tight-ass:: He shot back.

She rose an eyebrow. ::Oh really? ...::

Whatever he brilliant comeback was, it was never said.

:: I want to see the both of you I'm my office after the ceremony. :: Pluto interrupted. ::Immediately after you are relieved.::

:: Yes Pluto:: They both sent, a little shamefaced. 

"Bussssssted..." Muttered another of the Princes guard, Mars, his best friend, who had caught the guilty unfocused look on Shini's face. 

By the time the ceremony was over, it was nearing twilight, and Shi had to literally pull Shini away from the dance floor. "Pluto said immediately after the ceremony." She hissed, "I'm not letting you get us in any more trouble."

Shini just shrugged at his twin, like he had no idea what she was talking about and climbed the steep steps to Pluto's tower. 

As Shi raised her hand to knock, Pluto's deep, steady voice said, "Enter."

Shi opened the door, and with a slight bow, slid into one of the battered leather chairs across from the senshi of time. Shini, having only met Pluto twice before, proceeded more cautiously, eyes scanning the room nervously before entering and lowering himself slowly and precisely into a chair beside Shi. 

Pluto nodded slightly. "Do not be nervous, I have not called you here to punish you." She cleared her throat and folded her hands neatly on the wide oak desk in front of her. "The palace will fall tonight."

"What?" Shi whispered. "We're going to be attacked?"

Pluto nodded, a short, graceful inclination of her head. 

"What are we waiting for? We have to warn the others!" Shini exclaimed, knocking over his chair in his haste to rise. 

Pluto shook her head. "It's too late, every possible future I have foreseen tells of the fall of the Silver Millennium. Tonight."

"Why are you telling us then?" Shi reached out her hand towards her twin to grasp his hand. 

"Because you cannot fight." She replied.

"What?" The twins cried in unison.

"You have not yet honed your power, together, you have incredible strength, but you are not strong enough to use it yet. If you use it tonight, it will use you, and you will destroy us all."

"What do you mean?" Shi asked, horrified. 

Pluto shrugged casually, "Together, untrained, you'll simply destroy the solar system, we will be gone."

Shini looked angry, "So we're just supposed to stand by and let evil take over the universe and slaughter our friends?"

Pluto looked sad, "No, but there is one option. It will not save the Silver Millenium, but it will save the future. However, you must die and be reborn, I'm afraid you will not be together for eons as you learn to wield your power, separately."

The twins looked at each other for a few seconds, then nodded. "We'll do it." They agreed. 

  
  
  
  


*******

  
  
  
  


Mina frowned over the lastest addition to the large stack of books she had leafed though. She rubbed her eyes and let out a reluctant sigh. How long had she been here anyway? The clock over the door read three o'clock. Twelve hours, straight, no wonder she was tired and restless. "I don't think I've even stayed still that long before." She mused. She stood, vertebrae popping as she stretched her arms skyward. She picked up the piece of paper she had been using to make notes, there were two columns of names on the left side, then a point form description on the right. 

The first column of names were fallen friends, and enemies from her's and Hotaru's past, the second column is a prominent figure she could match to the first column, and the third is what they had in common. She had five names that had a match.

As far as she could tell, the scouts had been reborn in this universe, but strangely enough, they hadn't been activated at the same time. Ami had been activated first, and was one of the most important of the scouts to figure in this world's history. She had engineered the Tallgeese, a legendary mobile suit almost equal to the famed Gundams of today, whatever they were. Even if, the "Dr. M" mentioned in the first book was only mentioned in passing in the others, there were plenty of references to her creation.

As far as she could tell, Rei had been a professional psychic who had discovered some important metal, Mako had been a heroic general in the colonies' first defense squad, and Michiru pioneered a confusing scientific thing involving propulsion systems to regulate water for the colonies, and the last was a lost Prince of a place called the Sanq Kingdom, who was nearly identical to one of their first enemies. A general for Beryl named Kunzite.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


*****

  
  


Heero watched the blond girl suspiciously. Out of habit, he clutched his crushed gun in his right hand, using his left to part the books in the bookshelf behind her. Damn. She was still there. He had been researching the origins of the strange mobile suit that Zechs had fought with. Amazing piece of machinery, but ancient. It did not have the typical weak spots of the modern mobile suits, and that perplexed him. Heero did not enjoy being confused, it interfered with his mission to destroy OZ and the Alliance. 

The mysterious mobile suit was apparently so old that no computer record of it still existed, so he took the only option left open to him. Old fashioned book research. 

He had left the library briefly to get his laptop so he could type his notes, but when he had returned, the blond had been sitting in his chair, flipping through his book, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. 

He knew that she was one of the girls Quatre had taken in. After his run in with the first one, he had immediately gone to the security room to find the other.

Who was currently researching OZ's secret weapon. Quatre was convinced they were harmless, but as he ran his fingers absently over the crushed barrel of his gun, he certain that it was otherwise. Nevertheless, they could be used for information if they were spies, yes, they could be useful. He would just have to watch, and wait.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


*******

  
  


The violet haze as well as their near-forgotten memories faded. Hotaru/ Shi no Tenshi wobbled on her feet, and tumbled onto the bed, pulling Duo/ Shinigami along with her. 

He looked over at his soul-sister, who was retching slightly, her head hanging over the rails of the hospital bed. "Kami, I'd forgotten how much that power-melding hurt."

He shrugged, "You always hurt the ones you love."

"Do you think we still would have agreed if Pluto had told us we would only come out as the battle personas of our re-incarnated?" Shini asked.

Shi wordlessly nodded, " Probably, but even if she had told us, we couldn't have known what it would be like to live only t destroy. I guess it's this coldness that we need to control the destruction."

Shini nodded, "Yes, but we'll begin to merge with the nicer side, your little brush with death probably helped." He stated, detached.

"Probably." Shi agreed. 

  
  
  
  


**** 

  
  


Mina lay down in bed, rubbing her aching arms. After an hour of wandering aimlessly, carrying a few choice books borrowed from the library, she had finally found her room, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep. Sadly, distressing pieces of a puzzle spinning around in her head kept her awake, wondering. She had never been the smartest person on the team, that had always been Ami, but a theory was forming in her head. The most important thing was, what was it?

"Okay girl, rewind." She took a deep breath and mentally reviewed what she learned today. "I've learned that Ami, Mako, Michiru, Rei, Kunzite and ..... have been re-born in this reality and have already died. I know that there are no records of crystal Tokyo..... I know that there is a war being fought between Earth and Space..... I know that Quatre has a cute butt..... whoops! Stay on track, girl!" She growled, something was missing...but what? She hit the headboard of her bed in frustration. "Dammit! I wish Ami was here! She's figure this all out, or at least Rei, to make one of her mystical 'guesses'." She sighed, then something suddenly clicked. "Wait..." she paused, "What did Rei do again?" She leaned over and picked a book from her stack, "The Great Events in early A.C." She flipped through the book and found the passage she had bookmarked. "Ah, here we go," she muttered, absentminded, to no one in particular.

  
  


" Raye Gunda, an amatuer archeologist and proffesional psychic led a team of government agents for the Asian Alliance to the site of a believed meteor crash.

'It's strange.' She is quoted as saying on the day of it's official discovery, 'I kept seeing this place in my visions, almost like I was being drawn to it. Strange though, I didn't see a meteor," She laughed, ' I saw a great palace!' 

This site had been undiscovered for years because of a local taboo that ghosts haunted it. Nevertheless, large fragments of crystal have been found, along with a new, previously unrecorded metal which appears to be virtually unbreakable by modern standards. It was named, 'Gundamium' after it's discoverer."

  
  


Below the picture, there were co-ordinates of the discovery. Mina flipped to the index, where there were maps showing the events. She traced the co-ordinates and came up with another surprise. 

The 'crash site' lay almost exactly where crystal Tokyo had been.

"Kami," Minako gasped as the pieces suddenly feel into place, "This is the future."

  
  
  
  


********

  
  


Trowa frowned and re-wound the tape of the strange scene in Hotaru's room. What had just happened? As far as he could tell, Duo had entered the girl's room, spoken to her, and then what? He shook his head slightly, trying to clear his thoughts. "It should be suffiecently re-wound by now," he thought. He pressed play. It showed Hotaru sleeping. He hit fast-forward, she was still sleeping. Nothing had happened throughout the enitre tape, all it showed was the girl asleep in her bed. He glanced up at the monitor trained on Duo's room, he was there, peacefully sleeping as he should be. He glanced back at the monitor for Hotaru's room, still nothing... except, why was there a large charred spot in the center of the rug?

  
  
  
  


********

  
  
  
  


So, what did you think? C/c is not only welcome but fallen upon with inarticulate cries of joy.

  
  


REMEMBER: the hundredth reviewer gets a prize! I love you guys. 


	8. 

  
  
  
  


First of all, I don't own anything. At all. I have a car and a laptop and you're never getting those so suing will be not only bad karma but completely futile.

  
  


Author's notes:

Yet again, I remind everyone to read carefully! ******* denotes a scene change/ change of point of view. The bits in first person are nearly always Hotaru, but sometimes Mina or the main villian.

Thank you to: Ariel, Trisana (the Elemental, go read her stuff it's good!) And her twin Jen *mwah!*, Tensei, and, of course all of my reviewers! Thanks guys! Now... on with the story...

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The next morning:

  
  


Hotaru:

After blearily wandering around the mansion for what seemed like hours I finally found the kitchen. How big was this house anyway? I was getting winded. I walked into the dining room where Quatre and some other boys were eating. I smiled tentatively at Wufei, Trowa, trigger-happy boy, who's name I still didn't know and the friend that had been with him in the hanger. Grudgingly Wufei returned my smile, but I felt a little hurt when none of the others did. Trowa looked suspiscious, to me at least. For all the emotion he puts on his face, he could have just been constipated, but for some strange reason, I could almost feel his aura touching me as I concentrated on him. The new sensation made my skin prickle and my hair stand on end. Creepy. The long haired boy looked at me oddly, probably remembering our encounter in the hanger, but then again, I could have been wrong. Quatre was staring giddily at something over my shoulder. A woman I hadn't met didn't even note my entrance, she was blearliy focused on the coffee-maker. Gun-boy glared. I glared back at him, resisting the urge to look away from the intense threat in his blue eyes. Frowning, I wondered why I noticed his eyes were blue.

His eyes shifted slightly to glare behind me. I was tackled in mid-turn. 

"Hooooootaaaaaaruuuuu!" Wham! One goddess of love missile had fully bowled over her target. " Oh god 'Taru! It's good to see you! Thank god you're okay!" Minako babbled, caught halfway between hysterical laughter and tears.

"Minako..." I began.

"What's happened?" She cut me off, "Last thing I remember, we were fighting the Youma..."

"Minako," I said a little louder, looking nervously at the boys. Four of them looked confused, and I found out that gun-boy had found a new gun. 

Minako carried on, oblivious, ".... And the King... oh God, the Queen too, Hotaru, what happened to us?" She babbled. Iria dropped her coffee.

"Minako!" I hissed, grabbing her arm as hard as I could, gesturing to the full, gaping table.

"Oh." She said muttered. "Dammit, still thinking out loud." She pulled me out of the room with a charming smile for the rest of the room, leaving Iria too smooth over her mistake.

  
  


******

  
  


"Omigod omigod omigod!"Mina exclaimed, frantically pacing the bathroom. "What the hell did I just do! Omigod!" She sat on the edge of the palatial tub, chewing the mis-matched ends of her hair frantically.

"Damn." Hotaru thought. "She really needs a proper haircut." She shook her head. "Okay Mina-chan, calm down, what exactly have you told them?" 

"Well," Mina began, a small line appearing between her eyebrows as she concentrated, "Well, I haven't met some of them yet, I, uh, asked Quatre if he's ever heard of a huge crystal palace in Tokyo, and as for Iria, I, uh, er, well she had these test results, and I , uh, kindoftoldhereverything...."

"You what?" Hotaru sputtered. 

Mina was suddenly very interested in studying her slippers. "I....kind of..... uh, told her, everything." Mina looked up, wincing slightly.

Hotaru stared at her, a jaw agape. 

"Oh shite, I killed Hotaru." Mina said, waving her hand in front of Hotaru's face. She snapped her fingers, Hotaru jumped. 

"We're fucked." Hotaru said quietly, "Do you have any idea what they have in their gargage?" She hissed. 

"Don't worry," Minako smiled, "Iria will take care of it."

*******

  
  


"Soooooo...." Iria began, "Anyone seen any good films lately?" She smiled tentatively.

Five set of eyes stared quizzically at her. Trowa quirked an eyebrow.

"Anyone want an explanation?" She sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Oh yeah." Duo replied, leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest. 

"Well, Minako has been on some painkillers for her...injuries. They have given her some delusions....of a sort." Iria smiled cheerfully. 

There was a long silence.

Quatre cleared his throat softly. "Well, that explains some things."

Heero narrowed his eyes. No one else had noticed, but the other girl had known what the blond was talking about, he didn't like this, not one bit.

  
  


*******

  
  


"Ready?" Minako asked, straightening her shoulders and using her best, innocent smile.

"This is stupid." Hotaru groaned, locking her face in her best imitation of Mina.

"Yep." Mina grinned as she opened the door. "Time to meet our public." She winked at her fellow senshi.

"Only you could view this as your next acting project." Hotaru replied.

  
  


*******

The boys stared at the girls.

The girls stared at them.

"Hiya! I'm Duo Maxwell, foxy ladies! Welcome to suburbia, where they tear out trees then name streets after them.*"

Heero resisted the urge to smack Duo upside the head. Trust DUO to break the silence like that.

Mina grinned broadly, "Minako Aino, and my shy friend is Hotaru. C'mere! Stop trying to merge with the wallpaper." She chirped, gesturing to Hotaru who had hung back, hoping to be forgotten. She reluctantly trudged forward and held out her hand. It grasped Duo's outstretched palm and a jolt of energy ran through them, creating a brief purple glow around their joined hands. She starter slightly, and moved to pull away, but for an instant, time stopped. 

An ancient voice rang out in both their minds. "Four become two, and two join to one, twins reborn, the power is won."

Hotaru's eyes met Duo's, they were the same odd shade of light violet, stretched wide in surprise, mirroring hers. With a stomach-wrenching lurch, time restarted, leaving Hotaru's stomach behind. 

Minako was still cheerfully making introductions, as if nothing had happened.

"Hi Trowa, I'm Mina!"

"..." he replied.

Duo looked confused, then shook his head, giving her an apologetic smile as he released her hand. He frowned down at his hand, blinking, then shrugged, and bounced off to drag Heero over to the group making introductions. Mina grabbed Hotaru, shoving her toward the small knot of people in the kitchen. "Taru-chan, this is Trowa, Quatre," Mina, pausing giving him a quick smile, "and Wufei." Hotaru nodded at the boys.

"We've already met." She replied, blushing slightly under Wufei's close scrutiny.

Mina grinned knowingly, "Oh. I see.... you've...met...." The corners of her mouth wobbled dangerously upward as she held back a laugh. "Anyway, this is the good doctor Iria."

"It's good to meet you Hotaru." Iria said, smiling warmly.

"Likewise." Hotaru mumbled. For some reason, she felt nervous near the woman. Could it be that she knew all their little secrets? Why, maybe!

She turned around to find Minako glaring slightly at Mr. Spandex, while Duo was full-out pouting at him. The boy was quite unaffected by this, staring coolly past them, ignoring them both. "Yuy!" Duo growled, "She said hello. Your line is, 'Hello, I'm amazingly anal man, Heero Yuy.'"

Heero shrugged and pushed past them, the spy girl and the braided baka did not apply to his mission, so why should he waste time on stupid social customs. He marched past Hotaru right out the door. 

"What the hell is his problem?" Mina exclaimed.

"Don't worry," Duo replied, flopping bonelessly back into his chair, "He's always like that."

Mina shrugged. There was another long silence. "So, uh, what do you guys do for fun around here?" She asked.

Quatre pursed his lips in thought, "Well, there's the pool, the games room, and, if you're really desperate there's a tire swing in the orchard outside."

Mina's eyes lit up, "Tire swing?" She squealed, causing Wufei to wince and leave the room muttering about 'high pitched onnas'. "I haven't been on one of those since I was a little girl! Can we go?" She looked up at Quatre hopefully. 

He smiled at her, but shook his head. "I have a conference meeting for the company this morning."

She pouted at him, wondering why a teenage boy would be taking conference calls, but then grinned, and latched onto Hotaru's arm. "You're coming." She ordered before Hotaru could protest, then left the room, pulling Hotaru with her. Tire swing or not, it was time for a good, long talk.

  
  


*******

  
  


Mina led me outside, after about half an hour of wrong turns, again, we made our way into an ill-tended, half dead orchard just on the outskirts of the mansion's grassy lawns. Mina carefully sat down, her back against a healthy-seeming apple tree. I knew it wasn't, it was dying slowly, crying out to me as it went. I still felt nauseous from the incident in the kitchen, what the hell was going on?

Mina fixed me with a calm stare, calmer than it should have been. Damn, her mood swings are kind of freaky at times, but I'm worse, even more so than usual, so pointing it out would be sort of a pot/kettle thing. I wonder why? The mood swings' increasing frequency, not the comparison. "Hotaru, what the hell happened in crystal tokyo?" 

"You were there." I replied softly. 

She shook her head, the wind blowing long blond hair, charred at the ends, across her face. She unbuttoned the top three buttons of her shirt pulling the opening down slightly so I could see the pink traces of scars where the Youma had ripped into her. She smiled, the trifle sardonic, "I was out of commission for most of the fight."

I took a deep breath, "Well, we fought, you and Ami went down first, then Haruka and Michiru at once. Endymon took a hit that got him sheilding Usagi. The last ones standing were me and Pluto. Well, I wasn't exactly standing at the time. Pluto opened a portal, opened SOMETHING, and I managed to grab you and put you through, before Pluto was overwhelmed. Rei and Mako were on their way across the river Styx and the last sound I heard was Chibi-Usa's crying. Everyone's gone Mina." I looked up from the grass to meet her eyes, tears streamed down her cheeks, and as she raised a hand to my face, I realised my cheeks were wet too. So we sat there, clinging to each other, all that was left of our lost world, and crying for it's fall.

  
  
  
  


******

  
  


Quatre was, to be frank, worried about Trowa, he had told Duo he would take his surveillance duty for the morning. That, in itself, was strange, but Trowa hadn't come out of the room even once for a short break or touched the food Quatre had left outside the door.

"Trowa?" Quatre asked, knocking softly, "Trowa, it's Quatre. Is everything alright in there?"

Quatre recieved a soft sound of affirmation. Far from appeased, Quatre knocked again, this time with a more personal motive. "Trowa can I come in for a moment? I need to ask you something."

A few seconds later, Quatre heard a click an the door swug open. Trowa nodded at him, a gesture for Quatre to ask his question and swung back to the surveillance desk to continue fiddling with a tape.

Seeing as that is all the attention Trowa would give him at the moment, Quatre went ahead with his question, "Trowa, what do you think of the girls? I mean, Minako and Hotaru, of course."

"What do you mean?" Trowa replied, still frowning slightly at the tape in his hands.

"Well, I don't know, like, do you think they are trustworthy? Do you like them? That kind of stuff." Quatre shrugged, blushing a bit.

"Oh." Trowa replied.

"Well?" Quatre prompted.

"Well what? Why do you ask?"

"Because I.... well....I....I think I like Minako, I know it's sudden and I know I shouldn't, this is war and everything, but... Trowa, I know I trust people too easily, Duo, Wufei, even Heero have biases, but I know you will tell me the truth."

Trowa put the tape down carefully and swivelled his chair to face Quatre, his visible eye looking contemplative. "No. I don't think they're trustworthy. As for liking them, I really couldn't say, they've been here, what? A week? Two? I can't make judgement without any basis for it."

Quatre's blush deepened. "Why?" He persisted, "I can't think why someone from OZ would let themselves be sliced up on the off chance that they'd end up with us?"

Trowa shrugged one shoulder and turned back to the wall of black and white monitors. 

"You know I was on suveillance last night?" Trowa asked off hand, not really a question. Quatre nodded. Trowa popped the tape he had been studying into the player and threw a few switches. Soon, a blank screen, up, and a little to the left of Quatre flickered to life. It was a scene of Hotaru sleeping peacefully in her room. 

"I don't see how..." Quatre began.

"Just wait." Trowa interjected. Suddenly, the picture flickered violently, slowly settling back to the same scene, this time with a large charred spot in the center of the rug. 

"I went to check the rug this morning." Trowa said, "The burn is still there. It wasn't a surprise, I saw how it happened. Duo walked into Hotaru's room, he spoke to her, she woke up, and replied they linked hands and a glow engulfed them for a few seconds. Once it had faded, Hotaru was back in bed, Duo also in his room, and the only evidence being a charred spot on the rug. I tried rewinding the tape, but it only showed what you saw."

"That doesn't mean..." Quatre began.

Trowa shook his head, "Minako was researching the tallgeese in the library until an extremely late hour. She took notes as well as several books to her room with her."

Quatre sighed and asked himself when life had become this complicated.

  
  
  
  
  
  


******

  
  


Heero looked down at the two crying girls from the balcony. He frowned. This was not the typical behaviour of spies in their secret meetings. He nodded, to no one in particular, and resolved his newest self-imposed mission. He would find out what these girls were up to, once and for all.

  
  


******

  
  


Mina sniffled and hiccuped, wiping away the last tears from her sore eyes. With Hotaru, and their sharing of memories and tears over the hours they sat in the orchard, they had lain the past to rest, at least for now. There were more pressing matters at hand. 

"Hotaru-chan?"

"Yes, Mina-chan?"

"Well, while you were out on your great escape and discovery in the hanger, I made some interesting discoveries myself."

  
  


******

Meanwhile at OZ...

  
  


I stood carefully, arranging my cloak about me to flare in a sufficiently dramatic manner. I strode purposefully toward the door, but my chair beckoned to me, saying this time, this time you can avenge your family, their ghosts will no longer haunt you as you put away those responsible for their deaths, then you can rest. Yes, a rest would be nice, but I will not sleep until I've put those ghosts to sleep and created a few more. So I sat, attaching the appropriate electrodes to the appropriate body parts, sliding the wires into the special plugs on the inner side of my elbows, at my temples, and at the base of my skull, then lay back, and REACHED. 

It hurt, it always did, but this time I could push past it, fight harder, for mother, for everyone. I would have cried but tear ducts in a cyborg are quite unnecessary, after all, we're not supposed to feel. 

The electrodes under my skin that held me together burned, but I pushed on regardless. It felt like hours, but it was only a few minutes later that I finally found the sparks I had been looking for. I roused myself from the trance, ripping out the enhancement wires as a stood. I had found them. I knew where the traitor senshi hid.

An aide, Damon, I think his name was, burst into my chamber, looking excited. "We've found the gundam pilots General!" He exclaimed. I let him babble their location before I killed him. He would serve as a fitting example to the others. No one enters my chambers without special permission and clearance. 

As much as I hated my rules being broken I had to smile at the sheer irony of the traitorous gundam pilots living with the treacherous senshi.

  
  


******

  
  
  
  
  
  


Hotaru sat on the ground for a short while after Mina had left her. The dampness of the grass soaked into the seat of her pants, but she ignored it. She leaned back against a tree, tilting her head back to rest on the cool bark and inhaled deeply. She looked up at the sky, her mind too jumbled to try to think about anything at the moment. What did this all mean? She squirmed slightly, well, whatever it meant, the call of nature couldn't go unheeded for long, and at least that was a familiar feeling. She rose, pressing her feet into the ground and sliding her back up the trunk of the tree, stopping abruptly, mid-motion as something pressed against her neck, just below the base of her skull. The world narrowed to a pin point. "Don't move." A harsh voice, probably not used much, grated from behind her. Her legs trembled slightly from holding her position but she stayed frozen in a crouch. 

Taking a few deep breaths, she grounded herself, just like Haruka taught her, and let her legs go limp. Hotaru dropped suddenly out of gun point, grabbing the hand of her assailant as she went down, using her momentum to pull him down and forward, catching him in a surprise shoulder toss. Still holding his wrist while flat on her back she twisted her body around to kick the back of his elbow. This caused him to drop the gun, but nothing else. She frowned what the hell was this guy made of? That move, even without enhanced strength, should have broken his arm, at the very least. She kicked the gun out of range of his arms, cursed, then dove after it herself. She rolled, coming up to face her assailant, hoping the gun was pointing the right way.

It was. Good thing too, seeing as see looked up to be staring down the barrel of a gun. Heero had a backup. Shit.

They stood there, frozen, eyes locked. Hotaru's hand began to tremble, she would have to either lower her gun or fire soon.... Heero spoke first. "Who do you work for?"

"What?" Hotaru replied, puzzled. "I don't work for anyone. I work for me."

Heero made a grating sound that seemed to be a supressed laugh. "Everyone works for something. I want to know what. I won't kill you painfully if you're working on our side." 

That's when Hotaru got mad, she'd been a soldier for millennia, gave up nearly everything in the line of duty, and here was this little BOY threatening her. She didn't notice, but the merging had already began. Her lips tightened until they were a white line, and she clenched her jaw, "What the HELL makes you think you can do that?"

Heero watched warily as Hotaru's entire posture changed, now assuming an aggressive stance, her eyes were cold, and seemed much older than they had been a few moments before. The hair on his arms began to raise, and the air was suddenly heavy, as if it had been charged with static electricity.

She rose to her full height and started toward him. Before she had finished her first step, there was a loud bang off to their left, further into the orchard. In her pause, the ice in her eyes melted, and she started, whirling to face the noise. She looked a little confused. Heero lowered his gun and they nodded her, before running all out into the orchard, the truth about her could wait, for now, security breaches could not. He could hear soft footsteps behind him, the girl was following. He did not tell her to turn back, unlike Relena, this girl was a mystery, perhaps she could be an asset to the fight, and if she got killed, it would just save him the trouble of doing it later.

He reached a small clearing in which a man stood. He was tall, inhumanly so, at least eight feet. He had long red hair that hung to his shoulders, falling over his face and into his eyes. In his large hand, he held a sword, and across his back, a cape was slung. 

Heero, skidded to a stop, pausing to analyze his new opponent. He was huge, but probably slow and inflexible, the hair was a liability, so was the cape. Means of dispatch: hand to hand combat, no bullets need be wasted. With that, he launched himself toward the man. 

  
  


*****

  
  


I followed the Heero into the clearing for reasons I don't know. Maybe it was senshi reflex, suspect danger, come running to save the day; maybe it was just curiosity, but something just felt wrong. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, so I followed. 

I kept up with him. Damn, he's fast! Highly trained, my ass, he's gotta have something other than pure willpower driving him. 

By the time I reached the clearing, he was already trading blows with a huge guy. Something about the guy was just.... off, but I launched myself into the fray anyway.

The unknown man and Heero traded solid blows, the larger, slower man missing more often than not, but whenever a fist connected, Heero would be thrown off balance for a few crucial seconds. 

Even if he had attacked me, I couldn't just stand here and do nothing. Besides, everyone else in the household had been perfectly civil to me, even kind. Could I really return, dragging his battered corpse behind me and say; "Well, though I am a being with powers of destruction and healing limited only by my physical and mental weaknesses, I stood by and let him die because he was, well, rude and so forth..." No, I couldn't. Plus I really didn't want to see the result of one of them, probably Duo, getting mad enough to try and step on me with a Gundam.

So I jumped in, dodging Heero and the intruder alike. It had, however, been a very long time since I had done any real hand to hand combat, barring the short scuffle with Heero earlier. Soon enough, being unused to fighting with each other, instead of against each other, I misjudged the direction Heero would dodge. I spun away from him at the last moment, my foot slipping into a hidden hole, causing my ankle to twist painfully to an unnatural angle. I fell to the ground, leaving my back open. Not good. 

I was picked up in one hand, the sudden contact of the man's skin against mine causing a sudden nausea, then vertigo as he sent me flying, face first, into a sturdy oak tree at the edge of the clearing. 

  
  


*******

  
  


Heero reassessed his judgement of the man. Heero's punches had nearly no effect, and the rare blow the other man managed to land felt more like heavy steel beams than fists. The man swung his fist at Heero and he leapt nimbly to the side, unfortunately knocking over Hotaru at the same time. She was confusing, she had leapt into the fight to protect him, so she was probably not working for OZ. Whoever she was, she was his teammate in this fight, and he did not appreciate his teammates being flung into trees. He growled and backed quickly out of range of the intruders' swinging arms. He drew his gun and emptied his clip into the intruder's chest in one fluid motion. 

The intruder was shocked for a moment, looking down in consternation at the gaping red hole where his chest used to be, then keeled over backward. When the collapsed man didn't move, Heero rose from his crouch and made his way over to Hotaru. 

She was piled in a motionless heap at the trunk of the tree, but she was breathing, so she was alive. Heero wondered absently, while propping her upright against the tree trunk, if that was a good or bad thing. He shook her slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes. "Ow," she stated decisively. He took a tissue out of his pocket (or spandex-space, whatever), and frowned slightly, gesturing to her bleeding nose. She took it, then looked up at him and smiled, "Thanks." Her eyes met his, then looked over his shoulder, her face going pale as her eyes widened. She shoved Heero to the side and rose shakily, dragging her injured ankle. Her posture tensed and her features hardened, again looking older, more dangerous. She reached her hand out to the side and made a grasping motion. Out of nowhere, a large cruel-looking glaive appeared in her hand.

The man, still with a large bloody hole in his chest, had risen and was advancing quickly on the young girl. She hefted the large glaive in both hands, the deadly blade pointing toward the man. She muttered something in low tones that sounded suspiciously like "Piss off Youma!" and a band of purple energy blasted out of the glaive, knocking Hotaru off her feet with the kickback, completely incinerating the Youma and all life within a few feet of it. 

Heeros jaw dropped open. He was a stoic soldier, but this must have been a hallucination? Right?

He blinked, seeing only a charred circle of grass, and an unconscious girl. He shook his head and picked her up, she was light. Probably a lot lighter than she should have been, she was also extremely pale, more so than usual. He sped up.

  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  


* Alright, I can't remember where I heard this, but it's stuck with me for a while, so who ever line this is sorry! And thanks....

  
  


.


	9. In dreams

  
  


Sorry about the long wait! Life, (mainly calculus) got in the way!

  
  
  
  
  
  


Chapter 9; In dreams

  
  


Hotaru:

  
  


The first thing that one notices of the dream-scape is that there is no horizon, just a pale, dull grey that stretches out into eternity. I felt a gentle hand rest on my shoulder and jumped, whirling to face my companion. "Setsuna." I said, backing warily out of her reach. I hadn't forgotten the last dream (or was it warning?) that she had starred in. 

"Relax child." Setsuna said, staring me down easily with her weighted gaze. "It is I."

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Prove it." I retorted, Setsuna looked surprised, then regretful.

"So, you have finally begun the merge." She nodded curtly. "Good."

"What?" I asked.

"I cannot explain, time will tell my child." 

By then I fairly certain it was Pluto herself, not some nightmare simacularum. Only she was ever this infuriatingly vague. Still, I stayed out of arms' reach, after all, it was curiosity, not caution that killed the cat. "Why are you here?" I asked, still wary. Now that the shock of talking to the immortal spirit of my dead comrade-in-arms, I had begun to wonder what these visitations where about. 

The spirit-Setsuna sighed. "I suppose you're wanting an explanation for all this."

I crossed my arms and nodded. "Yes. I am." I snapped, biting off the ends of my words. I had just gone through more emotional upheaval in the past few days than ever before in my life, been haunted by weird dreams and had my version of the world skewed first by this absurd 'war', then by getting pummeled by a youma, something that's not supposed to exist anymore! Right? Excuse me, but I think I have the right to be a little snippy.

"I suppose you have already pieced together how you came to be here." She began. I nodded.

"You opened a portal to the future." I replied.

She looked inordinately pleased, "Good! You figured that out on your own. I was afraid that you would believe me if I had to tell you. I suppose you're wondering why the scouts weren't all activated at the same time, aren't you?" 

I nodded again, but she didn't reply, she wanted me to. Damn her, trying to make everything into a 'lesson'.

  
  


******

  
  


"I wish you would tell me what's wrong." Mina turned to see Quatre standing in the doorway, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket. 

"Nothing's wrong, Quatre. I just miss my friends back home." She replied.

"That's why you've been crying all night?" His eyes locked onto hers and held.

"Who's to say I don't have allergies?" She replied, shrugging and turning away from him.

"Because I was watching you on the security cameras for more than an hour." He walking into the room, resting a hand on her trembling shoulder. "Mina, you can trust me, just please tell me what's got you so upset."

"I can... trust you?" She wiped a tear from her cheek and laughed softly. "You spy on me through your security system, then you have the nerve to come up here and tell me I can trust you?" He voice rose with every word, and she stomped out the door, red-faced and eyes blazing. 

  
  


Quatre sighed and pounded his head gently against the door frame. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

  
  
  
  


*******

  
  
  
  


Hotaru opened her eyes slowly, wondering if she would ever get a good night's sleep. So the nameless enemy out there had some mental power and was tracking her through her dreams. That made sense, as she slept, her mental shields were weaker, not to mention the effect tumultuous nightmares had. She cleared the sleep from her eyes, yawned, and found herself face to face with Heero's gun. Shit. "I am really not in the mood for this," She grumbled. "Morning, Heero, we've got to stop meeting like this."

"Tell me who you work for." Heero replied. "And I want to know what you did back there."

Crap. Heero had seen her little stunt with the youma. He'd have to be told something to keep them in the house with a roof over their heads. She began to formulate and edited version of their powers in her head. First, no time travel, no reincarnation, no Crystal Tokyo, and NO SCOUTS. Okay, make that a near-completely made up story.

"Can you put the gun down first?" She asked, but he didn't move. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, don't blame me when your arm starts to cramp, this is kind of a long story."

"Begin." 

"Okay, okay. Well, as you've probably figured out, Mina and I aren't exactly normal. We've been genetically altered, don't ask how, because we don't know. We, and a few others, the ones Mina spoke of, were mostly used to test mobile suits. I think they tried to use the first of us as weapons, but the ones they let loose to fight broke free and escaped. I guess an unwilling weapon that can think for itself isn't the bast battle strategy. We were kept in the compound from birth, that's what the record said when Ami hacked them. I don't know how we ended up here either, I guess our program was terminated because suddenly a group of soldiers swarmed us, and, well, we woke up here." Hotaru tilted her head and shrugged again. "That's about it."

"Give me a reason not to kill you." Heero growled. A secret program for OZ! They were agents!

"Could you?" Hotaru asked, praying she could get her silence wall up in time if she was wrong.

"I could try it." He finger tightened dangerously on the trigger. "You have three seconds to tell me why you should live."

Shit. She was wrong, think Hotaru! Think! "Well, I'm pretty sure the corporation that made us thinks we're dead. I mean, if no one knows we're with you, we could be a secret weapon of sorts. We could help fight."

She could fight, he had seen ample evidence of that. Still, "Not good enough, you could be an agent."

A flash of inspiration came to her, "Cut my hand."

"What?" He looked vaguely surprised. 

"Cut me." She repeated, "It'll be obvious in a minute."

His brow furrowed and eyes narrowed, but he moved his gun minutely and shot her outstretched hand.

"Sonova..." She cursed creatively for a few minutes. "You jerk! I said cut, not shoot!" She yelled, clutching her hand to her body. 

"Get to the point." He pulled back the safety on his gun, another bullet ready to fire. 

"The point," She gasped, trying to stem the flow with the bottom of her t-shirt, but it was already slowing naturally. "Do you think any tracking or controlling devices could be surgically implanted into my body?" She held out her hand to let him see the wound. The smashed bones and torn ligaments and sinew were knitting back together at an alarming rate. "That sort of surgery takes hours, there's not way they could keep me apart for that long, their controllers were collars. Which were, as you can see, removed when we were left of the roadside to die!"

"Who ever said agents needed to be coerced?" He shot back coldly.

Damn, she thought, I hadn't thought of that. She tried to look pained, though it wasn't too much of an act, "Do you think," She began, lowering her voice for emphasis, "That I would commit my life to an institution that used me as a gunea pig? That did dangerous experiment without my consent, that decided we were too darn expensive for our use so they decided to kill us all without mercy or warning. Well?" She demanded harshly, pouring her real grief into her false story, "Do you?"

Heero kept his gun trained on her for a few, tense moments then turned to leave. "Accepted." He said coldly. 

Hotaru fell back onto her back, expelling a soft hiss of pain and relief. "Congratulations," She said softly, "You live to see another day." She rubbed her nearly healed hand with astonishment. It seemed her healing power had just kicked into overdrive, a good thing too. "Bastard." She kicked at the ceiling, visualizing Heero's face.

  
  
  
  


Much to her surprise, Heero returned a few minutes later, carrying a few smaller guns. "Changed your mind, Yuy?" She lifted her head from the mattress to glare at him. 

"Get up." He ordered. 

She rolled her eyes, as she rolled onto her feet. "Well, only because you asked so nicely."

"I'm going to teach you how to shoot." He compared the sized of various guns, finally tossing one to her. A slight smirk invaded his face as her eyes widened and she darted out of the way, letting the gun clatter to the floor. He bent to pick it up, "It's not loaded." 

"Ah, I knew that." She replied, edging back towards to gun.

  
  


*******

  
  


Duo frowned, shaking his head. What was happening to him? He'd felt weird all day. He'd woken up strangely refreshed, for once his sleep hadn't been plagued with constant replays of the burning of the Maxwell Church, so instead of tossing and turning all night, he'd gotten a full night of rest. That couldn't have accredited the entire feeling, though. He'd been getting flashes of strange images all morning, like deja vu. Some instances were quite inexplicable. He'd gotten flashes of a childhood that he'd definitely starred in, yet wasn't his own. 

He'd seen a palace and wonderful rolling purple mountains, and a little girl he played with. 

He'd felt happy. It had been a long time since he'd felt so free. He wished he could return to that dream, but the unavoidable call of nature was rather insistent that he get up. He wandered absentmindedly to the bathroom, wondering why the little girl was so familiar. 

It's kind of weird how a lot of great revelations occur in the bathroom. I don't think anyone would ever admit to having an epiphany on the can, but it happens. What else is there to think about while sitting there, other than your own problems, as shallow as they may be. It's probably an embarrassment because no one wants to think that they're at they're best with their pants around their ankles, except in the case of Archimedes who was in the tub when his great revelation struck, whose story is so well known. It so happens that Duo followed this trend of great bathroom thinkers.

"Violet eyes." He said, "The girl had violet eyes."

"You have violet eyes." His brain helpfully informed him. "So does Hotaru."

Duo frowned, then remembered who Hotaru was. "She had black hair too. Must have been her then." He shrugged, finished up and wandered back into bed, trying to reach back to his pleasant, playful dream. He wasn't a morning person by any stretch of the word, and, unless there was a mission, he wasn't vaguely coherent before at least noon, so he didn't notice that he'd just had a conversation with himself, and, someone had answered.

  
  


*******

  
  


"Why?" 

Heero looked at her, puzzled. 

"I mean, why are you teaching me how to shoot this? Wouldn't that just make me more dangerous?" Hotaru asked, a small line appearing between her brows.

"If you are to be a secret weapon," He grunted as he adjusted the target, "It would seem that your powers would have to be kept secret."

Hotaru rolled her eyes, "I know that. I mean, why are we fighters at all? Wouldn't it be less suspicious if we just were civilians?"

Heero shook his head minutely, "We are soldiers, if you were civilians, you would be dead by now."

Hotaru stepped back, "Quatre and Wufei would never have..."

"True," Heero interrupted, "But I would. They can't move faster than a bullet. Now begin your exercises and stop talking."

Heero watched her going through the movements of loading and disarming the gun, at first slowly, then with increasingly alarming speed. He wondered why he had decided to teach her how to use a gun. The logic had been obvious, the mission must be upheld, and this girl was their new weapon. Though anyone else could have taken the time to teach her how to shoot, since he was the best shot, he should do it, right? Can't have the secret weapon getting blown up before she's in the general vicinity of OZ, now could we? That thought comforted him somewhat, but still, somewhere in the back of his mind, something was bothering him.

  
  


******

  
  


Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! 

"I," Thwap! "Cannot," Thwap!, "Believe he did that!" Mina's growls were punctuated by he fists hitting the punching bag. By some miracle, after she'd stormed out on Quatre, she'd ended up in the gym. She had weeks of pent up anger and frustration which she was venting on an innocent, defenseless sparring bag. She let out a fierce battle cry and the bag flew off it's chain to land in a pitiful heap on the other side of the room. 

"Why?" She screamed, "Why? Why? Why!" She punctuated each 'why?' with a kick. "I was happy dammit! I was... happy." She glared at her reflection in one of the large mirrors that bordered the room. It glared malevolently back. The weight of her own glare pulled her down, as she threw a desperate punch to free herself, shattering the mirror. Collapsing, she held her mangled hand close to her body, "But I'm the happy one." She whispered, over a pain building inside her chest, "I'm not supposed to care, I'm supposed to be able to forget, I'm not supposed to hate myself." 

  
  


Clutching her knees to her chest she looked up to find a dark shadow hovering over her. 

"What is the meaning of this?" Wufei snapped, his slightly accented English becoming stilted with anger. Mina had no answer as she looked around at the mess she'd made, she'd felt so betrayed that she hadn't given a thought to anything but her feelings.

She shrugged, her seeming nonchalance infuriating Wufei even further. His face turned a purplish color as he struggled to control his temper. "Woman! Have you no respect, you are a guest here," Wufei began, trying not to raise his voice through clenched teeth. 

Mina's head jerked up, as if her head was attatched to a string that had suddenly been pulled taut. "NO!" She hissed back, "I do not have any respect for you, nor any of your little friends!" Her spine straighted as she kneeled rigidly on the ground. Wufei's challenge had snapped her out of self-pity and back into full righteous anger. "I have no respect for those who have no respect for me! Spying on us? That's what you call respect here? Well, I have news for you," She snarled, "Where I come from, there's something called basic privacy, it would do you some good to learn about it!"

Wufei's face had become so deep a shade of maroon that if she weren't screaming at him, Mina would have laughed at the sheer impossibility of the color. "Onna," He began, his upper lip beginning to curl into a snarl. "I..." He was interrupted by Minako pushing roughly past him, catching him unaware and shoving him to the floor as she stormed past him and out the door. "Onna." He spat as he picked himself up, "A weak woman who can't even deal with basic security precautions shouldn't be anywhere near our base," He resolved.

  
  
  
  
  
  


******

  
  


Iria resolved to get to the bottom of what was bothering her little brother. It wasn't like him to mope, in fact, it was just downright scary. "Quatre, come talk to me." She called as she sat down on the rec room couch and padded the cushion next to her. Quatre just shrugged and sat down, still looking morose. "What's up?" Iria asked, "You've been acting really down." 

He winced, rubbing at his collar bones. "I've just been having a bad day. I fought with Minako and I'm not feeling too well." He bit his lip, and continued to massage his chest. 

"Oh?" Iria replied, beginning to shift into her doctor-mode, "What's wrong? Headache? Nausea?"

"No," Quatre replied, frowning, "It's these chest pains, like a dozen needles in my chest. It's been building ever since I fought with Mina. God, I'm stupid sometimes!" Quatre pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead against them. He took a deep breath and explained the previous few hours.

Iria winced, "That probably wasn't the best way to go about that Q."

"I know, It's just that I'm so confused about them, her. It was so simple, she wakes up, our eyes meet, and 'bam'! Instant connection, now things are all messed up."

"Quatre?" Iria interrupted, "I hate to break this to you, but things are never just that simple. She's a person for god's sake, not a doll! Things tend to get more complicated when you go any deeper than the surface. Besides," She shrugged, "She only woke up a week ago! I think you're reading a lot into nothing." 

Quatre lowered his head sharply, again, to hit his knees, "I know," He groaned, " But I can't help but suspect them anyway, there was this really weird thing with the security cameras last night..."

  
  
  
  


******

  
  


Hotaru:

  
  


My palms were sweaty and blistered around my grip on Heero's .50 desert eagle, but I was still smiling slightly. The gun had surprised me at first. My first shot had floored me. Heero, probably for his own reasons of sadism, hadn't warned me about the kickback on the gun. You know, that rule in physics; 'Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." ? Well, the action of propelling a bullet forward at a deadly velocity, had the equal, yet opposite reaction of propelling me backward and wrenching my shoulder as the gun twisted in my hand. I swear he was smirking at me, those annoying blue eyes of his gleaming, for once, with something other than malice. 

It was a bit of a struggle, but after a few more shots, I was able to control the gun enough to shoot fairly accurately. For all my strength, the gun still managed to twist in my sweaty grasp, hence the blisters. I could wield my glaive, a powerful magical artifact capable of focusing and amplifying my power enough to destroy the entire universe, then perhaps put it back together again, but I couldn't handle one measly piece on metal. Actually a rather powerful piece of metal that shouldn't be used to teach anyone, let alone me, a 5'5, hundred-or-so pound girl. The bastard it out to get me, I swear.

I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants, shifting the gun from hand to hand, then used my shirt to wipe my face. I set up the stance that Heero had showed me after my rather spectacular (and painful) first shot and aligned myself. 

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, click. Empty. 

Heero had hot-loaded the gun, six in the round, one already loaded into the chamber, insisting that I practice shots in quick succession. I pressed the button to release the old magazine, and snapped a new one into place. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, click. Empty again. I looked at Heero, he shook his head. Thank God, we were done for today. As much as this new skill could come in handy, it was hot, I was tired and I'm sure, because I'd pretty much used up my total healing capacity for the day, I'll be sporting a stylish bruise tomorrow on my backside.

Heero studied my target, my shots were messy, but I was still pretty proud of hitting the target at all. He held out his hand, palm up and open, I reluctantly placed the gun into it. I wasn't particularly fond of it, but it meant he didn't trust me not to shoot him in the back. Not that I blame him, because I would do the same, had our positions been reversed, but it was, for some illogical reason, somewhat disappointing. He nodded curtly to me, apparently approving because without another word he turned on his heel and left for the heavenly air-conditioned confines of Quatre's mansion.

When he was safely out of sight, I collapsed, spread-eagled on my back, groaning to no one at all about how much cramping I'd be in for tomorrow.

  
  


*******

Trowa sat back in his chair, rolling his stiff shoulders and rubbing at his eyes. 'One last time', he told himself silently, flexing his fingers and letting them play across the controls for the monitor. His eyes narrowed, and a line appeared between his brows, the closest he ever got to a frown. I just didn't make sense. One moment it was not then, and the next it was. He wasn't even going to begin to think about what he had seen in on the screen as opposed to the tapes. Letting the tape repeat it's cycle, Trowa thought about what Quatre had said to him. Quatre's arguments of the girls', well. Minako's in particular had been emotional, but irrational. His friend seemed to have formed a dangerous bond with a potential enemy, (Mirii had taught him that much) , unusual for him. Quatre said his space heart told him that Mina was a good person, but Trowa was skeptical. Exhaling softly, he cursed his sister's pleading eyes that had led him to invite the girls into their home. He would do some research on behalf of his friend, find out exactly who, and possibly what, these girls were. Just as soon as he figured out that tape...

  
  


******

It was mid-afternoon by the time that Duo finally hauled himself out of bed. He stumbled into the kitchen, nearly tripping over Hotaru. Hotaru, who was sprawled face down on the cool tile, mumbled an apology and reluctantly rolled over. "Morning." She greeted, "Or should I say afternoon?"

Duo groaned and squinted at the numbers flashing on the mircowave, "Ugh, crap. Heero's gonna kill me for sleeping in this late, I was supposed to oil the gears on wi...uh...the jeep." He stumbled over the last few words, but Hotaru didn't notice. 

Flopping back onto her stomach, she replied, "Heero's in the shower, I just had target practice with him." 

Duo wrinkled his nose, holding out his hands in a doubtful gesture. "Why?" Hotaru shrugged, still on the floor. Duo shook his head and poured himself a glass of kool-aid from the fridge. Something in the back of his mind was bothering him, there was something he wanted to ask her... "You want?" He asked, holding up a plastic cup full of kool-aid, she looked up and smiled, "Yeah. That would be great."

*******

  
  


"We're getting close, stay in formation troops!" Commander Rafe Jung bellowed into his comm unit. He mentally forced the smile from his face, and the slight tremor of excitement from his hands. This was to be the greatest accomplishment of his career, if he could just get it right. Another tremble in his hands caused his mobile suit to falter slightly, but, cursing, he quickly regained control. This time it wasn't from excitement, while a successful defeat of the gundams would mean his promotion and company-wide renown, his failure could, WOULD mean the end of his career. Not to mention losing the only chance to get back to his home dimension. He adjusted his blue-furred claws on the controls, and focused on his goal. He was tired of the human captains treating his youma like cannon-fodder. They would get back to the negaverse no matter what it took. If killing the gundam pilots and capturing the remaining senshi to power their portal was what it took, then so be it.

  
  
  
  


******

  
  


"So," Hotaru asked, "What exactly do those big machines in your garage do?"

Duo choked and sprayed blue kool-aid all over the kitchen counter. He glared at Hotaru, "You waited until I took a drink to ask that." He accused.

Her eyes widened, the very picture of innocence. "I wouldn't do that. Come on! Answer the question!"

"You would too, Shi, and you know it! But if I told you I'd have to kill you." 

The sparkle fled Hotaru's eyes, and the smile dropped from her face. "What did you just call me?" She whispered.

Duo's cheerful expression faded as well, "Shi, I-I don't know where that came from, I think I heard it in... this sounds stupid... in a dream?"

A line appeared between Hotaru's eyebrows, "Shi, I know that name."

"Did you grow up in a place with purple mountains and..." Duo began, talking slowly, confused.

"...and a blue sunset?" Hotaru finished, and Duo's jaw dropped, "No, I didn't. Unless... but that's not possible!"

"What?" Duo shouted, somehow even more confused and frustrated that before.

"Saturn has purple hills and a blue sunset. The saturn of many millenia past." Hotaru's eyes were wide and her breathing became erratic. Her eyes locked on Duo's for a very long second, then she tore away, spinning on her heel and bursting out the door.

She ran a few paces, then stopped abruptly, causing the pursuing Duo to slam into her back. Duo was a minor distraction, however, to the dozens of mobile suits massing on the horizon.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Thanks for the support from all my readers! Yes, the reviews do make a difference, without them, I'd never finish this! Anyone who wants this for their archives is welcome to it, just please e-mail me with the url so I know where I can go to gloat over the sight of my name =)

  
  


Luv& skittles,RA

  
  


REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! PLEASE!!

  
  
  
  
  
  



	10. Finally!

  
  


Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Would you want my version of events anyway?? Didn't think so

  
  


Notes: Sorry this took so long and it's so short! My computer crashed again, and I've been in England with no access to a computer apart from this super expensive internet café. This has been on my computer for a loooong time, I just couldn't get at it for ...well..forever. Updates to this fic and 'don't tell me...' in the next two weeks, promise! So sorry for the wait!

  
  
  
  


Chapter 10: Finally 

  
  


"What the hell?" Hotaru frowned, and pointed as the arm-cannon of the Libra closest to her pointed in their direction and made a loud 'whirring' sound.

"Get down!" Duo screamed, tackling Hotaru to the ground as the wall exploded behind them. Hotaru scrambled to her feet, rolling up to face the wall. Her eyes widened and her mouth made a small 'o'. As if in slow motion, the wall was flexing impossibly over them. It hovered for a moment, then began to crash down. 

"Silence wall!" Hotaru screamed, her staff suddenly appearing in her hand and her clothes morphing instantly to her fuku. Turning the glaive-end to face down, she slammed it into the ground. A translucent purple dome exploded outward, incinerating the incoming debris.

Her eyes shone effulgent in the glory of her power. Duo gaped at this display, but for some reason, a part of him wasn't shocked by it. He felt something stirring, but he was too busy at the moment to give it much notice. His gun at ready in one hand, he grasped Hotaru's hand in the other. Her head snapped to the side where they locked eyes. Duo had no idea what was going on, his body was moving independent of his mind. He was confused, and he would have been terrified if this hadn't felt so...neat. He dropped his gun and laid his hand on top of hers on the glaive. He opened himself to the power rushing through him, becoming a conduit rather than a vessel that would be washed away in the flow. He threw his head back and opened fully, letting the power fill him. 

  
  


*****

  
  


At first Trowa thought it was because he hadn't slept for over thirty-six hours. However, when the plaster of the walls began to crack and old surveillance tapes began to shower him from the shelves above, he realized that yes, the mansion was indeed shaking on it's foundations. Stepping back from the debris and pulling his gun in one fluid motion, he flew down the emergency stairwell. Bursting outside, the scene hit him like a harsh slap in the face, hundreds of mobile suits being incinerated by a malevolant purple glow. A glow that was about two feet away and closing in, all he thought was...

  
  


*****

  
  


Mina sniffled and hit the punching bag half-heartedly. Screaming at Wufei hadn't made her feel any better, even if he had deserved it. Even if he was a prick.

She wanted to go talk to someone, and she was still pissed off at Quatre, so she reached out with her inner senses, passing the broken cords of green, blue, red, and aqua and pulled along the thick violet cord, following it back to Hotaru. 

She wondered at their growing powers. She had never been very good at visualization before. In fact, the only one able to get a clear picture and see the connecting strings during the exercises taught by Luna and Pluto in their combat years. She wasn't clear on why their powers were growing so fast, and so much. 

Was there some great evil that they needed to fight? If that was the case, then why hadn't their powers increased to this level while fighting Galaxia? Or before the final Negaverse strike?

Maybe it had something to do with this future. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that there were only two senshi left.

This musing was cut off as a huge surge of power bulging along Hotaru's thread knocked Mina off her search, then a huge purple wall knocked her off her feet as it passed through the room around her, shattering glass and embedding dumbells in the far gym wall...

She snapped back to outer vision, limping toward the door, still not noticing the dim silver, yellow and dusty, faded pink threads shimmering in the tangle of broken connections, still connected loosely. 

  
  


*****

  
  


Heero toweled himself off as he stepped out of the bathroom in his bedroom. He disengaged the laser alarm he set up for his laptop. He sat down at his desk and flipped up the false patches of skin on his inner elbows, knees, his outer thighs , biceps, and at the top of his spine, where his hair began. Carefully he took a briefcase from under the desk and unlocked it. Taking out his electrodes, he set them into the circutry revealed. He hated having to rely on a machine. What would happen if it were damaged or lost? Would he just stop functioning altogether?

His logic, said no. Without his laptop to recharge him, he would simply revert to eating normally again. He would feel the pain no-longer dulled by the circutry in his brain. He would feel the weight of the metal that re-inforced his skeleton, and lose his near-supernatural speed. 

Worst of all, he would lose the programming that made him able to function absolutely without emotion. 

Without his laptop, he would be human again, and that scared him most of all.

Fear was not something Heero allowed himself, so he simply sat back and began to download and re-charge. His eyes went blank and didn't so much as blink while his room shook around him.

  
  


******

  
  
  
  


Some people may call Wufei narrow-minded. Obsessive, or sexist, or brash, or even mean. Some people may be right, but of all the things in the world, he is not stupid. Before the war he was to be a scholar, not a warrior. No, that path was for Meiran. They hadn't hated each other at first sight, nor was it love. They were merely indifferent, paying less attention to each other than to their surroundings. Then again, their first meeting was at twelve, in during their arranged, ceremonial clan marriage. 

They hardly spoke that first year, Wufei spending most of his time in his study, while Meiran studied the art of war. During that time, and in subsequent years, Wufei learned politics, higher mathematics, the sciences, tech and became fluent in five languages; Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, English and French. Human nature, however, was not on the curriculum.

In french there is an expression, "l'esprit d'escalier", it means 'spirit of the stairway'. It's all the clever things you should have said that only come to you walking down the stairs after a fight. This is what Wufei was doing.

"Even WE monitor each other.... security cannot be compromised...."

He was on his way to the kitchen exit when the floor began humming under his feet. As the increasing vibrations of the foundation built from a gentle buzz to a dangerous jackhammer, he began to run, he had just reached the door as...

  
  


*****

  
  


Quatre and Iria

  
  


*****

  
  


Oh.

  
  


My.

  
  


God.

  
  


*****

  
  


NO! Thought the youma commander as a bright purple dome fell upon his troops. "NO!" He screamed as the light engulfed him, and his hope of seeing his home dimension died with the smell of his own flesh burning as the mobile suit cockpit was blown apart. 

  
  
  
  


******

An eternity, or a few seconds later, the dome collapsed inward onto itself, draining back into the glaive standing alone on the battlefield. Hotaru and Duo knelt together, wavering. 

"What in all hell's name was that?" Duo croaked.

"I-I don't know." Hotaru replied. It never happened like that before...never with such violence and intensity.

They leaned against each other, now sitting, panting, out of breath. Now lying down and drifting away from the harsh shore of consciousness.

  
  


******

  
  


Mina was the first one to reach them, shortly followed by Trowa and Wufei. Both boys looked amazed, and slightly battered, while Mina was used to senshi power and how to shield herself from it. It was a good thing the attack wasn't directed toward them, or they wouldn't have fared any better than the incinerated troops and mobile suits in the now bare orchard. For all intents and purposes, it was simply amazing that the mansion remained standing. They were growing powerful, almost too much so. The sheer amount of destruction shouldn't have surprised her, but it did. Though Hotaru was the senshi of death and destruction, as well as being the most powerful after Serenity and Pluto, she had never shown power of this magnitude before. 

Mina also wondered why Duo was collapsed with Hotaru his hands still entwined with hers around the glaive.

Shrugging, Mina tried to lift Hotaru off the ground, but noticed her hands were still tightly clamped around the glaive. A small line appeared between Mina's brows as she pried at Hotaru's fingers with no effect. 

Still in shock, but still Wufei, he snorted and shoved Mina aside. "So weak." He grunted and began to attempt to free Duo's hands.

Trowa watched in silence.

  
  


******

  
  
  
  


Meanwhile in unconsciousness:

Hotaru/Shi and Duo/Shini looked at each other. They were merged, the tremendous burst of power from repelling the mobile suit attack had blown open the links between each other, and their mutual past. The links were new, and bloody, from their painful opening. They explored them carefully in wonder, like a cripple suddenly able to walk on his atrophied legs. 

They smiled at each other as they remembered. Standing together, Hotaru felt like staying in the unconscious plane forever in companionable silence with her twin. However, Duo had other plans.

"Ha! You're still wearing that uniform?" He snorted.

"It's a FUKU. And yes, I happen to like it." Hotaru defended her senshi garb. It was REGAL.

"Some sort of fetishy sex thing right?"

"What?

"Never mind. Still yelling out magical commands?"

"Shut up."

"You are, aren't you?"

"Hmph."

"Going all Heero on me are you? Still, it's shameful, millennia in that body and you still need word commands."

"I do not! I just...like using them."

"Geez, it's worse than I thought, no more magical girl manga for you!" Duo chortled.

  
  


Hotaru glared and decided to wake up. She wasn't going to just stay there and let her twin tease like that! Duo rolled his eyes and joined her as she swam back to the mainland.

  
  


****

  
  


Duo suddenly relaxed and opened his eyes, causing Wufei, still tugging futilely on a wrist to fly backward, landing in the dust. Mina would have laughed if the same thing hadn't happened to her as Hotaru's eyes fluttered open.

  
  


Duo sat up, and looked around. "We did all this." He stated calmly, "Cool."

  
  
  
  
  
  


So.... what now? dramatic music it's all part of the master plan m'dears! Many twists yet to come! 

Soon! : They find out how they've been tracked!

Mina and Q make up!

Heero gets plastered!

Mina kicks Treize in the groin~!

Review and maybe it'll get done right quick! C'mon guys! Motivate me!

  
  
  
  



	11. 

The Necessary Evils: Chapter 11

  
  


Notes:

Thanks for your patience! *stupid physics* *stupid job* *stupid student's council!* I've been busy which coincided with a horrible case of writer's block that's been progressively worse over the past few months. It suddenly broke tonight, and all seven pages are the result of a few hours of fevered typing and long pauses at the keyboard. I'm gonna send it to be beta-d so if my grammar's horrible I apologize, but I'm going to be egotistical and assume there's someone out there waiting for the next chapter, so I'll just re-load the edited version in a few days!

  
  


It's my 18th b-day tomorrow~! *does a happy dance* Exactly nine months after valentine's day.....hmmm..... anyway: on to the story!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The cleanup took longer than the battle itself. Of course, since the battle had only lasted about thirty seconds, it wasn't surprising. Heero, Wufei and Trowa silently patrolled the battlefield, piling the bodies and charred shells of burnt-out Libras, Scorpios and Leos in their mobile suits. They were looking for survivors, away thing that could tell them how their location was revealed. Bodies didn't usually bother him, but the hair on the back of Trowa's neck rose. Through the char and ash, the metal debris and bubbled skin, he could see that whatever had piloted the mobile suits had once possessed fur and claws, tentacles, horns and wings. Whatever piloted these suits had not been human. 

The carnage raised another question. How come the mobile suits and their pilots were completely destroyed, ripping apart any enemies within a kilometer radius, and nearly varporising any within a hundred meters, when the only other damage done was a few up-rooted trees, cracks in the walls, and deep furrows made by flying shrapnel. How could that be possible?

What had Duo and Hotaru done?

The logical part of his brain warred with the conflicting ideas that such power was dangerous, and should be destroyed, and that maybe this power could be useful. Try as they may, there were always civilian casualties, could this power be a way to spare the innocent?

Like it or not, the illogical part wanted to throw up though he kept an impassive face. Still, he cursed the day he brought the strange girls into their lives.

  
  


While three of the boys cleared away the carnage, Quatre and Iria were running tests on Hotaru and Duo, who couldn't seem to stop finishing each other's sentences and grinning like idiots. Duo was lying down, mostly motionless on a medical gurney, while Hotaru seemed a little tired but fine. Duo, never having been used as a channel for magical energy before, was exhausted. He was too tired to do anything but breathe, and talk, apparently.

"So, did you...?" Duo began, as Hotaru was studying his gun.

"Yeah," she replied, handing it back to him.

"When..?"

"Yesterday."

"Who?" Duo frowned. Hotaru shrugged.

"Heero." Duo's eyes widened.

"But..." 

"I know."

"How?"

"Trust me." She sighed and smiled thinly. They noticed the room had fallen silent apart from Iria's excited gasps as she flipped through their test results. Quatre and Mina were staring. Quatre looked mystified while Mina looked exasperated and amazed in equal parts.

"That's really annoying you know." She commented. "It's rude to talk telepathically in company of others."

Hotaru smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. We were saying a bit out loud." She shrugged, "I guess it's nice to know I'm not deficient or anything. I mean, the rest of you could always contact each other but I never could. I was blocked until this link was blown open again."

"I don't understand," Mina said in an undertone to Duo and Hotaru as Quatre was called to the other side of the medlab to assist Iria. "You were never able to control your blasts before, it was either all, or practically nothing. You could either use small bursts, or let loose and destroy the world. I don't get it! I wasn't able to visualise before, and I heal too quickly, even without your help, Hotaru! This doesn't make any sense."

Hotaru opened her mouth to reply, to add a few theories she'd formulated from what her dreams had told her, but she was cut off by a cry from above. 

"We've got a live one!" Heero's toneless voice echoed loudly as he and Wufei carried a stretcher down the stairs and into the lab. The body was large, and couldn't have had much strength left inside to hold on. Lying down, the body was about four and a half feet long, with muscled arms and torso. The legs were gone. Tufts of blue fur stuck up from where the non-flammable safety harness had covered. The rest of the skin charred and bubbled. Hotaru was revolted, but she could not look away. There were youma in the mobile suits. Oh God. Thousands of youma in mobile suits attacking. 

The eyes snapped open and met Hotaru's. "Senshi." It hissed, and broke out into chest-wracking coughs. Blood flowed sluggishly from the leg stumps at his hips. The wounds were nearly cauterized by the blast. It hissed again, softer, too soft for her to hear. Hotaru stumbled off the table to lean closer as Iria frantically bound his raw flesh. You couldn't interrogate a prisoner if they're dead.

"Damn you." I hissed again. 

"How did you find us? Why are you here?" Mina interrupted. 

The burns on his mouth and cheeks cracked as he tried to smile. "You. Her. The dreams. Tracked'em. She blocked us later. Too late. Too late. She found you." His eyes unfocused as his weak, burned voice drifted into a raspy, whispered sing-song. Hotaru leaned in closer. 

Faster than anyone thought possible, a clawed hand flew up and clamped onto Hotaru's throat. She gasped and twisted in his supernatural grip. A thin line of blood trickled out between his claws. "Your fault. We could have gone home. All your fault. Everything. Always." His last words ended in a soft gurgle.

A death rattle. Hotaru had always thought that it was just an expression, she had never been close enough to hear one before. 

"Damn!" Iria cursed. "Damn! Damn! Damn!" She stopped cpr, and just leaned back onto the wall, her head tilted back, lips pressed firmly together. He was an enemy, he had attacked their home, he wasn't even human, but she wasn't a soldier. She was a doctor, and she hated death coming to anyone.

  
  


Silence.

  
  


Then; Heero spoke. His eyes were dead, flat. She hadn't notice the change, it had happened so gradually over the week, but his face had become less guarded, subtly alive. His eyes were at times quizzical, and sometimes the corner of his mouth would turn up in a slight smirk. His eyes danced like a blue flame when they fought the Youma, then softened when he put his hands on her shoulders to correct her shooting stance. 

  
  


But not now. "What did he mean, 'tracked your dreams?"

  
  


The youma was right. It was all her fault. She opened her mouth to explain, as she looked around at the faces of the others. Iria was dressing the body for cremation, moving slowly with her shoulders hunched as if she was suddenly carrying something heavy. Quatre was standing tentatively close to Mina, looking back and forth between them. The wheels in his head were turning so fast you could practically see them spinning behind his big aqua eyes. Wufei was frowning, with his back held rigid. He wasn't looking at her, but rather, through her he couldn't seem to decide whether or not to believe the beast. Trowa had the same frozen look as Heero. "I..." She began. Mina glanced up at her words, meeting her eyes.

"He said they tracked you." She said. Hotaru didn't like her voice. It was empty, just like when they'd first been re-united. "You've been having the dreams, haven't you?" 

Hotaru tried to answer, tried to explain that, yes, she'd had some malevolent nightmares, but she's thought it was her own guilt that caused them. She'd deserved them for letting everyone down, so she didn't want to worry Mina. She tried to reply, but her throat closed up before she could get the words out. She took a deep breath to try again, to somehow say it in a manner that didn't sound so self-pitying, but Mina cut her off again.

"You've been having the dreams and you didn't think that maybe I'd like to know?" Mina knew she shouldn't be getting angry, but everything was just building and building and she couldn't stop herself. She'd thought that maybe everything was starting to get okay again. Sure, she was sad, and no, she didn't know how to deal with the mass murder of her best friends, but then again, who does? She figured it safe to put it off for a while until she got everything straight in her head. She was starting to put things back together, fitting pieces in the jigsaw, making this world her own.

And there was Quatre. She didn't mean to, she really didn't, but he was so nice and funny and sweet. He told her she was pretty. All these years, she tried to convince herself that love at first sight didn't exist. It wasn't possible to just *know * at the first meeting, look at Usagi and Mamoru. They hated each other for years, and their love was destiny. Sometimes she was jealous, but she knew, watching them, that even if it was destined to be, it didn't necessarily make it any easier. Sometimes they died, sometimes they left for no reason, sometimes they were slaughtered in a surprise attack by an enemy long thought dead. She was stupid and sad, he was sweet as he listened to her, so she let him. Then he had to do something shitty like spy on her. 

Now Hotaru was keeping things from her too. Secrets that endangered them all. She tried not to get mad, but somehow, while her mind was working on this, her body, over-taxed by the emotional upheavals of the day ended up screaming at her.

"How could you not tell me you knew something was wrong! You knew! I know you did, you just didn't think I could handle it." Hotaru's eyes brimmed as she froze to the spot under Mina's assualt.

"Don't yell at her like that!" Duo yelled, from where he was lying, he didn't hear most of the youma's last accusations. "It's not her fault!" Duo added.

Wufei jumped in, snarling. He seemed undecided still, but he couldn't resist getting in a barb at Mina. Quatre added his voice to the melee, trying to calm the high emotions, but it just raised the noise level. 

The noise grew louder until Iria shreiked, "Shut up! Shut up!" Heero fired his gun into the foundation. 

  
  


Silence. 

  
  


Everyone turned to Hotaru. Her mouth opened an closed, but no sound came out. Tears began to spill down her cheeks. "I-I'm sorry." She stammered, then she turned on her heel and bolted out of the room.

  
  


"What was that?" Iria asked shaking her head, "I don't understand what just happened, but I hope you're proud of yourselves. Excuse me, I have a patient to bury." She shouldered Wufei and Heero aside as she wheeled the commander youma out of the room. 

  
  
  
  


*****

  
  
  
  


He didn't really want to do it, but being the perfect soldier meant he must. It wasn't really her choice but he had to get rid of her. She was dangerous to the mission. She was getting dangerous to him. His programming should have allowed him to just shoot her, no guilt, no fuss.

"What?" Hotaru snapped.

"Open the door." Heero ordered. She didn't, but she hadn't locked it either. He walked in to find her curled into the fetal postion of her bed. He wondered how many tears a person could cry before they just dried up, empty. "Explain what Mina said."

Hotaru said nothing. 

" Explain yourself, Hotaru." Heero repeated.

"Why don't you go ask her?" Hotaru replied. Like Iria, she didn't sound angry, just tired.

"Because I'm asking you, and I want an answer. Now."

She didn't turn to face him, but she answered. "There is no experiment, Heero. No agents, no experiments. Mina and I, well, we're the re-incarnations of magical warriors from the past." She didn't need to see his face to know that he didn't believe her. He kept silent however, allowing her to finish. "We were the court guard to the Princess of the Moon. She was beautiful, tall and silver and soft blues, like moonlight. She was graceful and kind, I liked serving her." Hotaru explained. She told him about Mistress Nine, and the first time she'd discovered her powers. How she'd hid and cried when she found out she could blow up a planet with a gesture. She was terrified of her power, as she still was. She told him about the battles, the Crystal Tokyo and the last battle, the portal, what they'd discovered since. Things she'd never told anyone, things she'd never had to tell anyone. Anyone who needed to know were there as it happened. Heero was silent during her entire monologue. "I know you probably don't believe me, but ask Mina, ask Iria. They'll tell you it's true."

  
  


Heero didn't want to believe it, but it fit too well. Every action, bits of obscure history, their occasional odd turn of phrase, all wrapped up in a neat, magical tragedy. "I believe you." he replied. 

Hotaru turned over, staring with wide, red-rimmed eyes. "I believe you," he repeated cooly, "But since I believe you, your weak mental defenses from your injuries led them here, and they may have a lock on you, wherever you go. That cannot be tolerated. You cannot control your thought while dreaming. You could compromise the future of the world." He wasn't accusing, just matter-of-fact.

"You're going to have to leave. It's not a request." Heero knew he was doing the right thing, but he still had to look away as her sudden hope crumpled, "Where am I going to go?" She asked, dazed.

  
  


"I don't know." He gave her a folder. "Here's some money. Will you be gone by morning?" 

  
  


She stared at the folder he placed in her hands, and nodded mutely. He was the leader. She put them in danger. She understood, she really did. She told herself not to let him see her cry. 

  
  


He stopped as he reached the door and looked at her over his shoulder. His blinked and studied her face. Maybe he'd changed his mind? No, he stiffened his resolve, "Sorry." He muttered as he shut the door behind him.

  
  


She wanted to scream and cry and rage, but instead she folded the medical scrubs she'd been wearing neatly and stacked them inside a med bag. She added her toothbrush, some toothpaste, a towel, some i.d.'s Trowa made for them before they'd woken up and a gun she'd filched from the armory on the way back to her room after she'd fled their accusing glares. She'd felt so guilty, she'd thought to end it all, before she realized that it wouldn't make her feel better.

  
  


She'd felt guilty and hated herself. It was her fault. They were right. She'd kept it from Mina when Mina shared all of her discoveries. True. She compromised their position. Heero was right that she was a liability, but she'd been unconscious while they'd locked onto her! It wasn't as if she'd asked for these abilities that she could barely control or understand. Hadn't she tried? Hadn't she and Duo gotten rid of the threat with only minimal damage on their side? They were afraid of her now. She understood that, but still, she was angry. 

She took the keys to Heero's jeep and a few fuel cans and set out, angry, alone and more than a little afraid.

  
  
  
  


******

  
  


Mina felt bad for blowing up on Hotaru. She'd tossed and turned all night, worrying her fingernails into ragged stumps. She had a reason to be upset, but she didn't have to do it yelling. She took a deep breath and threw off the covers. She would apologize this morning and they'd talk it over like reasonable adults. She resolved to speak to Quatre as well, explain her point of view. She knew he hadn't meant any harm, but she'd felt too violated to explain to him why she was mad. 

It was her curse, she thought, to feel to strongly and too suddenly for her to be rational.

  
  


******

  
  


Mina was on a high. She'd talked to Quatre this morning over breakfast. He'd been so sweet. He'd stammered his apologies and how he should have known better. They'd ended up laughing about how Iria had chewed him out and playing on the tire swing which, amazing enough, still hung on an upright tree. They spun round and round and she'd shrieked until her belly hurt. She wished that moment could have lasted forever, but he reminded her that she'd meant to make amends with Hotaru. All her senses were cranked to the max. They were upwind from the battle scene, and the air smelled like apples and clover. He smelled like soap, cheerios, and peppermint gum. She wondered if he tasted like peppermint too.

She smiled as she skipped up the stairs. He kissed her softly, and nudged her toward the house, telling her to apologize then come back out to play. He kissed her!

"Hotaru? Hotaru? Look, I'm sorry, could you just let me in?" She knocked at the door. There was no answer. Mina waited.

.

.

.

.

.

"I'm sorry I yelled. Can we talk?" Nope, nothing was going to spoil her mood today. Maybe 'Taru was still asleep. She poked her head into the room. 

"Strange," She muttered as she took in the bed, neatly made up, the open, empty wardrobe and the missing bag she'd used to cart her meager possessions from the hospital wing to a normal room.

Her forehead crinkled and she moved her head slowly side to side. The bathroom was empty. No toiletries. That's when it hit her. Hotaru was gone. "No. No. NO!" She cried. She didn't mean for this to happen! What if OZ was still tracking her? They could corner her alone. 'Taru didn't know this world any better than she did, she could be tricked, or arrested or worse!

She wouldn't run off after a little fight like that. Mina was sure she had realized the situation. She knew someone would have told her to go. 

Heero. The suspicious jerk would jump to immediate conclusions. Mina hauled ass down the hall in the direction she was sure Heero's quarters lay.

  
  


*****

  
  


"Heero, what did you say to Hotaru last night?" Mina asked, stepping out of the adjacent room. She's been waiting for him. He glared at her and attempted to brush past her, but she moved with him, positioning herself between him and the stairwell. With surprising strength, she held him there, her left palm pressed against his chest, one eyebrow raised. "What the hell is your problem Yuy?" She drew herself up into a regal stance, shoulder back, neck stretched, and ribcage held high, drawing on her millennia as a princess, she looked down at him, "What gives you the right to be so rude to us?" 

Heero furrowed his brow, Hotaru had many odd moments like that, where she seemed to lapse into someone older, more dangerous. Nevertheless, he wrapped his steely fingers around Mina's wrist and shoved her out of his path. She landed with a loud thump in an undignified heap on the ground, and her regal grace seemed to melt away.

He strode purposefully down the hallway, stepping over Mina to do so. As he reached the stairway he said, "I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant." 

Mina flopped onto her back, her lips pursed and arms crossed, looking quite like she had tasted something sour. "Yuy," she grumbled watching his retreating back, "I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's hard to pronounce."

"She's gone, Heero." She called. He stopped, and turned back.

"I know." He replied, crossing his arms.

"How dare you. How DARE you!" She hissed, getting to her feet. "She has no defense out there! Do you realize how much danger you've put her in?"

"How dare *I*?" He asked, his voice still lowered a few notches but his face remained impassive. "You were the one accusing her last night. I'm doing this for our safety." Mina's face reddened. "No defense? Someone who can slaughter three mobile suit formations piloted by youma in less than thirty seconds is not generally termed defenseless." 

Mina blinked and looked to her feet, the wall, then back up at Heero. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. How do you know about youma?"

Heero was getting impatient. Tossing Hotaru out hadn't been something he'd expected to enjoy, but he it felt unexpectedly bad. He raised an eyebrow, "How do you think? She told me, explained. After seeing a few hundred dead, inhuman creatures, I'd say I was entitled, Senshi Venus."

Mina's eyes blazed. "You know who I am."

Heero nodded.

"Then you know what I can do. I don't care if you have a gun. I don't care if it endangers your current mission. I don't care if it compromises our position. I .DON"T. CARE. You have a new mission. We are going to find her, apologize and bring her home." Mina seemed to grow a foot as her rage grew. Her eyes burned into his and her hair moved in an unseen wind.

"Accepted." He replied. Damn her. She'd spent so much time with Quatre that she'd picked up on his tricks.

  
  
  
  


Well ladies and gents, what did you think? Questions? Comments? Critiques? All are welcome, please leave a review or e-mail me and I'll get back to you a.s.a.p.! 

  
  


Next chapter: 

Heero gets plastered!

Mina kicks Trieze in the groin!

  
  


Soon:

We find out who this mysterious dream-tracker is!

Hotaru finds out Heero's secret!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	12. Roadtrips and random insanity

  
  


A/N

This is starting to round in, it'll probably be done at 15 chapters or so.

Taking a bit of a break with the drama and the angst, this chapter includes (but not limited to): fighting, roadtrips, getting sloshed, duct tape, a kick in the pants, and, of course, lingere for world peace. I've been sick for the past week and this was written in my mostly lucid moments so it's a little... weird, but I kinda like it. 

Hmm... as the real place this story takes place isn't really important as it's a few hundred years in the future, I randomly chose Australia. Mostly because for some reason it amused me to put OZ's headquaters in a country nicknamed OZ, but also because it sounds like a cool place with excellent surfing, hot guys and cute accents. Umm.. The point of this is that I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO AUSTRALIA so all I've got is a book I once read based in Australia, so if I'm totally off I hope all you'll forgive me.

  
  


Chapter 12:

  
  
  
  


Hotaru woke up looking like hell and not feeling much better. Her eyes were swollen and puffy from the crying she's going to insist never happened, her clothes are wrinkled, her hair is mussed and she has the pattern of the seat fabric pressed into her cheek. She tries to sit up, but she bangs her head on the gearshift before she remembers that she slept in the jeep. She sighs, rubs the sleep from her eyes and turns the key in the ignition. Nothing happens. She stops, waits thirty seconds, then tries again. Still no movement under the hood. She punches the empty passenger seat in supreme frustration with the world, trying to distract herself from the fact that she still wants to cry and her neck is sore.

  
  
  
  


*****

  
  


"What do you mean they're gone?" Duo bellowed from inside the MRI machine.

"Quatre, get out! I'm running the tests!" Iria interrupted.

"But..." Quatre began.

"Are we under attack?" Iria asked, crossing her arms over her chest, her clipboard dangling from her hand.

"Well, no..."

"Is the building about to collapse?" She leaned close to him, causing Quatre to step back nervously. 

"Not exactly."

"Did Prince Zaphod ask for my number?"

"Uh..." Quatre stepped away from his advancing sister. "No."

"Then," She smiled sweetly, "It can wait FIVE MORE MINUTES!" She shoved him bodily out the door.

  
  


*****

(Five minutes later) 

  
  


Iria opened the door with a glare and gestured for Quatre to enter the room as she left. Duo was struggling with his pants. Iria estimated that it would take Duo at least three days to recharge his energy stores, but Duo seemed intent on going after his sister and friends right now. 

Quatre tugged at his collar, it wouldn't help the situation at all to get Duo even MORE riled up with his own agitation, but what was he supposed to think when you kiss a girl and then an hour later she runs away with Heero and Hotaru? True, Mina and Heero never seemed to like each other, Quatre couldn't help but feel jealous.

Setting his own feelings aside he set to work at calming Duo. With an immoble, irate, and anxious Duo three days was just enough to drive them all insane. They'd better be back before then, or he might just have to kill them for not leaving a note.

  
  
  
  
  
  


*****

"Turn off the radio." Heero grunted. The whining of the singer's voice and the repetitive bass beat was beginning to annoy him, intruding on the single-minded concentration he applied to most things he did. Driving was no different. Mina, however, ignored him, staring out the window, half-heartedly bopping along to the beat. Heero grit his teeth, telling himself that to shoot her he would have to take his eyes off the road, and that wasn't very safe at all. Fumbling, he reached for the radio and pressed the power button. 

"Hey." Mina protested, turning to glare at him. "I was listening to that." 

This time Heero ignored her.

"Hey! Heero! Are you listening to me?" Mina demanded.

Heero didn't reply, fixing a steely gaze on the road ahead, tightening his grip on the steering wheel, and clenching his jaw. 

"Fine." Her back went rigid and her eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back into her seat, staring ahead. "Be that way, you big baby, fuck you too."

"Name calling?" Heero replied casually, as if his grip wasn't beginning to warp the steering wheel. "Rude and childish." 

Mina's cold front heated up rapidly as her face turned tomato red and firgurative steam came out of her ears. Her fingers curled and fists balled, and rose of their own accord, itching to crack the hard line of Heero's jaw. It took every ounce of self-control she had to not hit him but instead reply, "Rude? I'M the one being RUDE? I think you're mistaking me for yourself."

He shook his head, "I'm not rude," he replied, "You're just insignificant."

If it was at all possible, Mina's face got redder, he fists rose a little and were trembling slightly. "You, you, you... ARGH!" She screamed, then twisted around to face the window again. "I hate you." She hissed icily.

"The feeling is mutual."

  
  


*****

"Of all the places to break down!" Hotaru exclaimed as she looked around. Apparently the mansion was quite secluded, an oasis in the middle of the bush. Around her stretched a desert-like setting, only different due to the orange tinted dirt and occasional scrubby foliage. "Great, this is just great." It had been two hours since she had woken up and she had exactly one car had passed. As of the moment, she felt her chances of hitching a ride were only slightly higher than inventing lingere that caused world peace. 

She sighed and sat on the trunk, then lay back, looking at the sky. She licked her lips, and winced as they cracked painfully, she needed water. Well, maybe it would rain? No, the sky was clear blue, cloudless, and seemed to be mocking her. She closed her eyes, could this get any worse? 

She heard something whoosh past, screech to a stop, then back up slowly. Great, she thought, now I'm hallucinating too. I must be more dehydrated than I think.

Something poked her in the shoulder, her eyes flew open. That had hurt! This was no hallucination!

She sat up, nearly knocking heads with a tall blonde. The strange woman stepped back, placing her hands on her curvy hips and tossing her long hair over her shoulder. "Car trouble?" She asked, pointing to the hood of the jeep which I had propped open in the universal signal for help. 

"Yeah," I relpied, squinting in the bright sunlight, envying her expensive looking mirrored sunglasses.

"Hop in." She replied tilting her head in the direction of a flashy yellow ferrari.

Hotaru hesitated, "Why are you helping me?" She asked, suspicious of this "OZ", the organization that the negaverse seemed to rule.

The woman snorted, "Now that's gratitude, do you want to stay out here and die of thirst?" 

No, Hotaru replied silently. She certainly did not. But... she extended her senshi magical senses to the strange blonde. Curious, she thought, her face scrunched up in confusion, the stranger definitely wasn't of the dark magic, but she had a sense of power that floated about her in a haze that was dark blue with bits of gold at the edges, it felt...familiar, somehow. 

"Hello?" The woman interrupted, jolting Hotaru back to normal vision. "If you're done making faces at me, I'm leaving, with or without you."

Hotaru nodded, still pondering her new companion. She climbed into the all-leather interior and they sped away. 

Hotaru looked around, nervously chewing on a fingernail. It was silly, even without Duo, she had an incredible amount of power, not to mention a century or two of hand-to-hand experience, she'd never before, in all her incarnations, hitch-hiked. She glanced behind her seat and was surprised to see a number of labelled boxes.

"So..."

"Dorothy." The blonde supplied.

"So Dorothy, what's with the boxes?"

"Oh," Dorothy chuckled, "Just some lingere for world peace."

  
  


*****

"You crossed the line Yuy!" Mina yelled, pointing to the line drawn in red magic marker down the front seats. 

"I most certainly did not." He replied. 

"Are you calling me a liar?" She said through gritted teeth.

"I didn't have to say it." 

"There! Look! You did it again!" Mina crowed, pointing at his hand. 

Heero's hand was, indeed on Mina's side of the line, he was, however, using it to shift gears at the time. 

"Look, you stupid girl, I need to shift gears, you can just move the bloody line." Heero had been driving for hours with Mina kibitzing and playing with the radio. Even Heero's steel nerves and icy temperament were beginning to fray. He needed to recharge soon. His monthly ritual was interrupted by the mobile suit attack. Without his programming being reinforced he was beginning to lose the absolute control he had over his emotions and his ability to suppress them. He shuddered, he was beginning to FEEL again.

Even if it was anger. Intense anger. 

Mina was grumbling and re-drawing the line with blue pen. She glanced up at him, her eyes boring into his, holding her stare even after his eyes flicked back to the road. 

"What?" He growled.

"I love not being you." She replied sincerely.

A piece of the steering wheel snapped off in his hands.

  
  


*****

  
  


"So, tell me if I've got this right: You design lingere and some of the proceeds go toward funding the peace movement?"

"Yeah," Dorothy replied around the cigarette in her mouth. She was frowning down at her lighter, the lighter fluid was nearly gone, but she was still trying to coax a flame out while driving at high speeds. The roadster swerved dangerously close to the ditch, Dorothy swore. Her eyes flicked back up the road and took a corner on two wheels, skidding around a metal pole and screeching to a stop about to inches from the only building Hotaru had seen in the last fifty miles or so. 

Dorothy threw the empty lighter to the ground, and hopped out of the car, crushing the shiny yellow plastic covering with the metal tip of her stiletto heel. She yawned and walked toward the dusty building, which appeared to be a gas station of sorts. "You coming?" She called over her shoulder.

"Yeah..." Hotaru replied trying not to let her voice shake. 'Just as soon as my legs work again' she added mentally. "That was... interesting." She mumbled, fumbling to undo her seatbelt. 

When Hotaru got inside, she saw Dorothy haggling cheerfully with a dusty middle aged man over a lighter and a pile of supplies on what Hotaru took to be a counter. As she eyes adjusted to the dim light she noticed this wasn't exactly the typical gas-station convenience store. Instead of cheap nudie magazines and junk food, weapons lined the walls. Grenades were piled according to size and blast radius in one corner, while smoke bombs and detonators lined another shelf. M-16's, Hotaru noticed dimly, were on blue-light special all this week. 

Dorothy and the man paused in their conversation, "Hey," Dorothy said, "You need anything here, or can you wait 'till we get to town? I noticed you didn't have much on you."

"Err... okay." Hotaru replied, "What do I need?" 

"For where we're going? Bruce, see what you can set my friend up with." Dorothy winked at the men who grinned toothlessly back at her and swaggered into the back room. Suddenly Hotaru wished she was back, dying of thirst at her jeep.

  
  
  
  


"Where are we going anyway?" Hotaru asked.

"Dorothy smirked, "You don't know?" 

Hotaru frowned.

"This road leads to only one place. Nowhere." Dorothy replied, looking very much like a cat that had gotten into the cream.

"Nowhere? What do you mean? It's got to lead somewhere!" Hotaru replied, chewing on her nail again.

Dorothy threw her head back and laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh. "No, Nowhere is the name of the city at the end of this road. It's not exactly the best place for tourists, I thought you going there, seeing as it's the only big city in this direction." 

Bruce came back to the counter, staggering up the weight of a cardboard box full of guns, knives and other unpleasant things.

Hotaru frowned and turned back to Dorothy. "But I thought you were trying for world peace?"

Dorothy laughed again, a cold chill ran up Hotaru's spine, "It doesn't mean I'm stupid. Going into Nowhere unarmed is a veritable death wish. Besides, I never said I wanted world peace. War is my game," She grinned nastily, "It's no fun if everybody gets to play."

  
  


*******

"What do you mean we're out of gas?" Mina screeched, slamming the car door as she stepped out.

"It means: We're. Out. Of. Gas." Heero replied, gritting his teeth as he grabbed a gas can out of the trunk. Mina had become even more unbearable than before. Ever since they found Hotaru's stolen jeep abandoned by the side of the road, Minako had become frantic with worry. On top of all her other stresses, the fact that their own car had just died did not go over well with her. He mentally kicked himself for not remembering that this was the car in which Duo had sabotaged the fuel gage. 

Mina, however, was not satisfied with mental kicks. No, she kicked the trunk , the seats, the doors, and , getting a little carried away, Heero's shin, swearing violently the whole time.

She drew her foot back sheepishly from Heero, wincing slightly. She hadn't exactly been restraining the use of her senshi strength. "Oh! God! Uh... shit! Heero, I'm really sorry, oh jeez, are you okay?" She looked up to meet his angry blue eyes in an otherwise placid face.

Grunting, and not limping at all (which Mina found puzzling) walked to the back of the car and reached into the back seat, coming back with a roll of duct tape. "Maybe they don't know HOW to shut up in your time." He peeled a long strip of silvery tape off the roll with a harsh ripping sound. "It is my duty to show you."

  
  


***** 

  
  


"What do you mean, they're all dead?" I growled, my voice dangerously quiet. The screens flicked around me, fizzing out of focus as I got angrier. The air crackled with electricity as I forced myself to breathe, calm down, calm down. "How did this catastrophe happen?" I growled.

Trieze motioned to his aide who brought his a folder. He opened it, and began to speak. "It seems..." He trailed off and frowned. "It seems that one of the girls produced a shock wave that vaporized the formation. From the last transmissions and readings we got, it seems she has the power of a small atom bomb. 

Memories flood my mind:

Purple eyes, black hair, purple light warring with silver. Mother's blood.

  
  


"Saturn has enough power to destroy and remake the entire universe if she so chose." 

"But that's impossible." Mama's voice is cool and calm.

"I never said it was possible, I only said it was true*" 

  
  


Father's blood is dripping on me from above, the portal's closing Mama, we need to go. Mama? Mama? Mama, wake up, wake up! I want to go home! Please Mama wake up! Wake up!

  
  


"General? General? Are you alright?" Une asks. She doesn't really care, but I'm annoying her with my inattention, I know. She can't scold me however, I outrank her. 

"Yes, I'm fine." I reply, a thin smirk gracing my lips, calculated to annoy her even more. "Enough." I snap, as I realize Trieze is still reporting. I wave my hand and the folder catches fire. Trieze swears and throws the folder to the ground. Oh my, I probably shouldn't have done that, but apologizing wouldn't be of any use, they would just use it as a weakness to be manipulated. 

I know I haven't earned my position, but that doesn't mean I will allow myself to become a puppet. No one pulls my strings. Still, "You are all dismissed." I'm tired and empty, I need to recharge badly. "Not you Trieze, I need to speak to you." However, I still have an empire to run.

I strap the electrodes back onto my body and start searching for the elusive psi-signature of the killers I had picked up on before. 

"General? What's going on?" Trieze asked, shifting from foot to foot. It seems the good general is not at all accustomed to not being in complete control.

"What does it look like you nitwit? I'm finding the scouts. Since your sources obviously can't be relied upon....I'm...going...to..urg...do it..." I gasped, just a little farther, I don't need to get in, just get a location, just a name girl, think of where you're going. Come on, damn it, come on, "Do it... myself." I grunted, blood trickling from my nose, wait, my face was more wet that that. I looked at Trieze through blurry eyes. He was gazing at me with a sort of horrified fascination. Lifting a hand to my head I found I was bleeding not only from my nose, but my eyes, mouth and eyes, damn, must have ruptured something important. No matter, I had broken through, I had a location, my technicians could fix me later. 

"The Spitting Cat, Nowhere. Find them Trieze, make sure of it personally." I hissed as my vision went awry from pain.

Trieze nodded a shaky affirmative and opened the door. "Oh, and Trieze?" I called as her left. "If you fail I will be very, very disappointed in you." 

  
  


*******

  
  


Heero smiled as motor turned with a faint purr. He nodded, luckily he'd been able to acquire gas from a small, dusty building a mile or so up the road. It was strangely filled with weapons, but they'd been able to provide him with gas (at an extortionate price, but being the only building in miles, Heero didn't complain) and confirmation of their direction.

"Mmmmmph! Leeeeeeemmmgggggg! Nnnnntttttmmmmyyybbbsstrrrd**!" Mina squealed as she glared banefully at him. Squirming in her seat. 

Exhaling in great exasperation, Heero leaned over to rip the duct tape off her mouth. 

"Ow!" Minako exclaimed, "Untie me you asshole!" 

Heero ignored her, letting her rant for a few more minutes before interrupting in a quiet voice, "If you don't shut up, I won't tell you what I learn from Bruce."

Mina's mouth flapped silently for a few seconds before, "Bruce? Who's Bruce?" 

"The man who sold me the gas. He says Hotaru was with a regular of his. They were heading for a motel/tavern called The Spitting Cat in Nowhere."

"Nowhere?"

"Where we're going."

"Well, I always knew you were going Nowhere."

  
  


******

  
  


The little roadster squealed to a stop a few millimeters from the concrete parking barrier. I gulped, it seemed to be a habit of Dorothy's. 

"Well, this is it." Dorothy grinned, hauling a box of lingere out of the back, gesturing for me to the same. As I grabbed a box, I looked around. The seedy buildings were grimy and graffitied and sagged drunkenly against each other, much like the residents of the street. The sporty yellow ferrari looked quite out of place. It didn't seem like the good part of town, much less like where someone of Dorothy's obvious status would deign to enter. Then again, rest of the city, at least what I'd seen speeding around it, didn't look any better than this. Was it possible for a town not to have a good side?

Problem. I'm here, in town, but what do I do now? "Hey Dorothy, uh, thanks, so, um, is there somewhere you know I can stay, just for a few days, until I can find a job or something?" 

Dorothy appeared to think about it for a few minutes. "You say you got kicked out?" 

"Yeah," I replied, my mouth tightening.

"Well, it's not the poshest digs, but you can stay with me." She cocked her head toward the tavern door. "Come on."

"Why?" I replied, the retort slipping out before I had the presence of mind to cover a rude response and praise my luck. Dorothy was a little weird, but hey, a free room's a free room.

Dorothy snorted, and one side of her mouth quirked up in a smirk. "Because I know what it's like." With nothing else to say for once, I followed her up the stairs, I was looking forward to a good sleep in an actual bed. 

  
  


******

"Finally, Oh my God!" Mina sprang out of the car, "That was way too long." 

Heero raised and eyebrow at her and snorted. 'SHE thought that was way too long?'

Mina, however ignored him in favor of locating her erstwhile friend. Heero suppressed the urge to groan and entered the tavern. Mina, noticing he wasn't beside her, bounced back to him, whispering: "You get the bartender, I'll see if the clients have seen her." Then she bounded away before Heero could nod. All of a sudden, Heero could have sworn that she was enjoying herself. 

Heero sat at the bar and waited for the bartender. After about ten minutes a tall, slender brunette approached him, "What'll it be short stuff?" Heero stiffened. He was NOT short. 

"Water," He replied cooly, "I'd like to ask you a..." 

"Sorry kiddo," The bartender interrupted, "Anyone who sits, drinks." She replied, her brown eyes sparkling in amusement.

"Okay, I'll have a beer, now about this girl, have you seen..." Heero began.

"Sorry," The bartender interrupted again, "A REAL drink, sweetheart, or are can't you drink?" 

Heero's eyes narrowed, and, not having access to a computer to stabilize the chemical levels in his body, his testosterone level sky-rocketed. Suddenly he was convinced he could out-drink every man in the room. "I'll have... that." Heero replied, pointing to a steaming, neon-blue noxious-looking concoction.

The bartender's eyes widened considerably, "Brave lil' fella ain'tcha? One Blue Death on Wheels comin' right up." She replied grinning. Her hands flew to numerous bottles, pouring, mixing, shaking, without even looking at the bottles, and moving so fast that her hands blurred. As the final touch she added a metal stir to the mixture, which promptly dissolved. 

"Drink up, sugar." She said, placing the drink on the table in front of him.

  
  


*****

  
  


"'Nother one." Heero slurred.

"Are you sure kid? You've had six already." The bartender raised an eyebrow.

Heero's eyes narrowed and his bottom lip jutted. "Want. 'Nother. One." 

"Okay kid, It's your funeral." The bartender shrugged setting another drink in front of him. She hadn't seen the girl he was looking for, but the bartender was pretty sure he'd be seeing her after another one or two shots of blue death on wheels.

Mina bounded up to Heero, "We're in luck! The manager said she came in with a girl called Dorothy. They're staying upstairs! What a relief! Oi! Barkeep! A gin and tonic for me, and a shot of Drano for Mr. Personality over here."

The bartender slid Mina's drink down the bar to her, actually, I think Drano would be better for him than what he's been drinking." 

"M' a lil' teapot." Heero mumbled.

"What?" Mina asked, not quite catching Heero's slurred words.

"M' a lil' teapot." He insisted. "M' shor' an' stout. Here's m' handle, h're's m' spout."

Mina bit down her laugh. Her face turning red at the effort. 

"M' a lil' teapo'!" Heero insisted, turning suddenly to face her, grabbing both her arms. Unfortunately, this meant the bar was no longer supporting him.

"Oof!" Mina exclaimed as Heero fell on her. "Yeah, sure Heero, you're a little teapot." She looked back up to the bar, "What the hell did he drink?" She asked.

"It's called Blue Death on Wheels, record is for five in one night, but if he lives, it'll be seven." She flipped them a thumbs up. Heero was groggily singing to himself, insisting that he did TOO have a handle and a spout.

  
  


Mina groaned under Heero's weight, the boy might now be all that tall be in felt like his bones must be made of iron or something. She dragged him outside, shoving him into the back seat. "Okay mister," Minako panted, "You're going on a diet when we get back." She hefted his legs, and slammed the door behind them. "Okay, let's just hope Hotaru's not passed out as well." She groaned to herself. 

"Oh, I do hope she is, Senshi Venus." A voice, cool and silky came from behind Mina. She whipped around. "Who are you?" She hissed, crouching instinctively into a defensive position.

"You don't know? Tut-tut, what ever happened to know-thy-enemy? My name is Trieze, and you, the boy, and Saturn will be coming with me."

"Oh?" Mina replied, "You and what army?" 

"I should think that obvious," he chuckled, drawing his katana. "I believe this is the obligatory fight scene Miss Venus."

"I believe you're right." A slow, evil grin spread across her face, "But it won't last very long." She sprang forward, moving faster that Trieze would have thought possible. He realized, much too late, that, though he was a highly trained and skilled swordsman, she had superpowers.

Trieze twisted desperately out of the way, but due to her senshi speed, she was just too fast. Her hand darted forward and latched onto his belt buckle, pulling him toward her and causing him to nearly drop his katana in shock. This was not what he had expected. The katana, however, soon became the least of his troubles. "Rochambeau!***" Mina cried cheerfully as her foot contacted squarely with Trieze's groin.

All color immediately left his face as his mouth opened in a soundless scream. He collapsed in slow motion with a faint hiss, like a deflating balloon. 

"Hey! Cool!" Mina exclaimed, "Magical restraints!" 

She fit them to his wrists and ankles, hog-tying him with duct-tape for good measure, using the method Heero had used on her a few hours previous. 

"That's it," Trieze thought as the duct tape covered his mouth, "This is war."

  
  


* Quote, can't remember who from... uhh.. Sorry, please don't sue

** Translates roughly to: Hey! Let me go! Untie me you bastard!

*** Rochambeau, as far as I know is a game where boys try to sack, (and not in the football sense) or kick each other in the groin area. They play this because they find it amusing to grab each other's genitals and watch their friends squeal in pain. I have never been more grateful to be female.

  
  
  
  


Okay! One month! Not so bad eh? I'll try and get the next chapter out a week or so into January, before exams, but I can't guarantee it. Reviews and vigilant e-mail harassment does, however make me write faster, so if you want to have the next chapter quickly, tell me and I'll do my best! 

  
  


Btw, I AM one of those authors who actually LIKE constructive criticism, I'm fine with you hating my story, just please tell me why! 

  
  


Anyhoo, thanks for reading and please review as well as recommend any fics you think are good, I'm too lazy to wade through everything these days!

  
  
  
  



	13. Revelations: hold onto your hats kiddies...

  
  


A/N: Yay! Physics is over! The sad news however is that this means art has started so I will have considerably less time to write as I'm trying to finish about six paintings by the end of the month on top of finite math. Ick. However, this should be finished pretty soon, it's picking up momentum for the big finish!

  
  
  
  
  
  


IMPORTANT!: note on Dorothy. All I'm keeping about the canon-gundamverse Dorothy is that she once stabbed Quatre and the basics of her personality (I hope..) Otherwise, I'm mostly severing her ties to OZ, and instead making her more of a free agent. I meant to do a little more research on Dorothy, but she's pretty minor in the gundamverse and I haven't been able to find a lot of info outside of fanfic and I don't own (and haven't watched for over a year) the actual gundam series.

  
  


APOLOGIES to douglas adams for misuse of one of his more famous lines from 'Hitchhiker's'

  
  


POINTS to whoever can find the douglas adams line, a reference to 'looney tunes', Buffy, 

  
  


This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has reviewed, beta'd and encouraged me to keep this going for the (2? has it been that long?) years in which I've been writing on and off. Without you this would never get done!

Special thanks to fallen firefly who recently picked up the story and reviewed every single chapter as s/he went through. Thanks!

  
  
  
  


Unlucky 13 : Revelations (In which most everything is revealed, this is the chapter you've been waiting for folks!)

****

  
  


I opened my eyes to find myself on a palatial balcony, circa the silver millenium. Large fairy lights danced above, and soft piano music wafted around us with the breeze. Strange, I thought, we didn't have jazz back then, did we? 

There was a sumptuous afternoon tea set for two at a lone table facing a magnificent blue sunset. 

Great. Another dream sequence.

I sat cautiously at the pristine table, eyeing my tall, elegant companion. 

"Hello Hotaru," Pluto said pleasantly, "Wonderful to see you again. How have things been?" 

I looked at Pluto, then at the lace table cloth, the white doily coasters, and my own lacy dress. "Ugh." I grunted, then let my head thump down on the table. "I can't get away, not even in dreams."

Pluto might have worn shades of a smile on her face, but I didn't look up. "Oh yes, the little cyborg kicked you out. He's rather handsome, isn't he?" 

"Shut. Up." I growled. Pluto wasn't supposed to notice things like that, but of course she just had to be all-knowing on top of everything else. "Are you going to make with the cryptic, or could you please, please just tell me what's going on? I'm getting really tired of this." I held out my cup as Setsuna poured the fragrant, steaming tea. Hey, may as well reap the benefits of spectral dream visitors if they brought food, right?

Pluto pursed her lips, as if debating something. "Alright." she said abruptly. I choked on my tea. 

Pluto smiled at my spluttering, and waited for my to regain my breath before beginning. "Do you remember the last battle of the Silver Millennium?"

"No. Shini and I weren't allowed to fight. Remember?"

Pluto frowned at me.

"Okay, sorry, sorry, yeah, I remember."

Pluto nodded, "The moon kingdom fell, and the Queen used her power to send all of you to the future, that's what killed her, right?"

"Yeah, she was totally drained," I nodded.

"Wrong." Pluto's impassive mask held, but there were definitely glints of humor in those garnet eyes now. Hmph. She says she's going to tell it to me straight, but she still finds some way to make it into a lesson. "The sheer power of the absorbing everyone into the crystal was great, yes, and the energy to send everyone to the future was tremendous, but it was well within her power to do."

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you going to tell me she died of heartbreak or something?" I shrugged, "Because that would be really... well, sad, I guess."

"No." Pluto replied, actually giving me one of her rare smiles, "The true draining effect was the effort to keep all the power together, evenly dispersed. You see, that's part of the problem with being so closely tied to the crystal. The Queen made it so we will constantly be re-absorbed into the crystal, and re-born, until the negaverse is defeated." Pluto brushed her hair back from her face. The wind was picking up on the balcony. She looked away, eyes downcast, and suddenly looked heartbreakingly sad. 

"Serenity couldn't have known how strong the nega-verse would be, or she would never have doomed us to this."

"But, I don't understand." My brow furrowed and I knawed on my lower lip, why aren't the rest of the scouts here? Mina and I are here, so is the negaverse. Shouldn't the rest of our friends be here as well?"

Pluto shook her head. "That was another reason for the drain. It took immense power to make sure you were all born in the same generation, and in roughly the same area. It would have been disastrous in that first uprising if you had all fought alone."

My head sunk into my hands. Mina had been right. I'd nodded along with her speeches, and dutifully read the articles she pressed into my hands, but I hadn't really accepted it. My friends had been here, and they were gone, all gone.

"There was another problem with this uncontrolled resurrection, Hotaru." Setsuna's voice was grave and worried. "The power of the crystal is always the same."

"Okay." I agreed. I was still staring at my clenched fists in my lap, mind blank with shock. I expect Pluto had expected me to gasp or moan or react somehow, because she clarified.

"The power is still there and there are only a few warriors left to wield it." When I said nothing, she sighed and continued. "Okay, the crystal is like a rushing river, and you are like a creek running off of it."

I looked up. Call me thick, but this still wasn't making any sense to me."Don't creeks flow into rivers, and rivers into oceans and stuff?"

Pluto glared. 

"Sorry, continue."

"So Mina, Shini, and yourself, as well as a few others are small streams running off this river. Some streams, like yourself and Usagi, are wider than others, like, say, your empathic friend, Quatre. You can handle more power, and have greater natural magical ablities."

I looked up at her blankly. "So what you're saying is I have a big stream. Uh, yay?"

Pluto actually growled. "Saturn, are you being purposely thick? Most of the major players in this war are dead at the moment, and their power has been fed back into the crystal. Their streams have been rather effectively dammed, and now that rushing water had no where to go, except for the few streams left open to it."

I was starting to get see the picture Setsuna was painting. I really didn't like it.

Pluto nodded as she saw the realisation creep across my face. "Can you guess why so many of the scouts reborn alone rarely made it out of their twenties?"

I nodded, feeling overwhelmingly nauseous. I was glad I was sitting down. "They were flooded." I whispered.

Pluto nodded. 

"What are we gonna do?" I asked. 

Pluto's shoulder's drooped. "I honestly don't know, Hotaru. You're the first with sufficient psychic ability to contact this way, Rei had built up considerable barriers by the time she was of age. It was the only way she stayed sane as long as she did. There are certain mechanical advancements, but..."

"Oi! Sis! Pluto lady! Long time no see!" The classy light jazz changed abruptly to... the thong song?.. as Duo swung open the balcony door and bounded up to us. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I? Of course not!" Duo said cheerfully. He twitched, and his smile grew colder. "You better not be talking about anything important without me" his older personality added.

  
  


"Ah, Shini," Pluto had composed herself during Duo's flamboyant entrance, "Lovely to see you again."

He shrugged, his muscles seeming to relax fluidly as he broke out a wild grin, "Actually it's Duo now."

"Yes," She nodded, "It's Duo, NOW. You haven't merged quite as smoothly as your sister here."

Duo frowned, and I did too, mirroring his expression, all thoughts of rivers and such flying out of my head. "What?" I frowned.

Pluto just shook her head. Duo cocked his head and pursed his lips, then shrugged again, and flopped into a third chair at the table that hadn't been there a moment ago. "So," He said, stuffing a chocolate croissant into his mouth. "What are you two lovely ladies doing in my dream?"

"What?" I wrinkled my nose, "This is my dream!"

Duo raised one eyebrow, "Oh? So you regularly dream about such hunks of manly goodness as myself?" He smirked, "You know, that's mildly creepy considering you're my sister."

"Oh, ew." My lip curled and I made a retching noise, "Ugh. I may never sleep again!"

"Yes, I know, you're ashamed that you've noticed my nummyness, but haven't we all? I forgive you sis," He replied in a teasing sing-song.

"Argh!" I threw up my hands, "Whatever. Are these your thoughts or mine?"

Duo grinned again, "Beats me, the grenades and babes are missing."

"Ugh. Definitely mine."

  
  


Pluto shook her regal head, "You two," She sighed, trailing off, "This won't be easy, but you have to fight them. Save this world. It's the only way any magical channel can survive, the crystal won't let go of our power until the negaverse is defeated. It's the only way any of our souls can ever be free.

  
  


Do you remember that song you used to sing as children? 'Baby's been lied to: Mama said, Mama said. Baby should go on back to bed, Mama said, Mama said. But baby-girl's the jewel in their crown, Mama said, go to bed. Tell the truth, and they'll all fall down, Baby's head's as good as dead.

"That's just an old nursery rhyme, Puu. I don't understand. How are we supposed to do this?" I asked, the gravity of the situation finally settling onto my shoulders, and grinding me into the elegant stonework.

" You will, Hotaru, you will. Duo, child, millennia have passed, but the memories remain. Meditate on them this morning, and the answer will come to you. Hotaru..." Pluto trailed off as she saw the set of her jaw and the tears welling in her eyes, "You don't want to do this again. None of us do, but this is what you were born for. Mina is downstairs looking for you, bring your new friend when you leave. You may find she's not as new as you might think."

Pluto smiled, not unkindly, but with a measured hardness behind her eyes. She leaned in to kiss each twin on the forehead, then down to level her mouth between their ears. She covered their eyes with her palms before whispering softly, "Are you ready?"

  
  


*****

  
  


Hotaru woke with a gasp. Pluto hadn't waited for her answer, which was in all likeliness a resounding, "NO!" , but as soon as Pluto had withdrawn her hands her eyes had snapped open and she'd been rudely jolted awake.

"Hey Sleeping... well, I think you'd agree that Beauty's not the right word for the moment, but reasonably-attractive-for-someone-really-disheveled just doesn't have quite the same ring to it."

Hotaru groaned and rolled over, pulling a pillow over the rat's nest that was masquerading as her hair. "Noooo." She groaned.

"Cheer up, kitten, it's not that bad!" Dorothy's comment was punctuated by said bottle hitting 'Taru's head with a hollow 'thunk!' 

"Ow!" Hotaru sat up and glared. Dorothy seemed resistant though, she used one hand to re-button her shirt and used the other to towel-dry her long damp blonde hair.

Hotaru sighed and flopped back onto the bed. The fate of the world was resting with her yet again, and she REALLY didn't like it. She was so tired, but she was prepared to throw herslf fully into the only option she could think of at the moment: A good, long sulk.

Just as her eyes were getting nicely teary, Dorothy jumped onto the big bed, about a foot from Hotaru's head, bouncing it a good four inches into the air. "So, nightmare?" Dorothy asked casually.

"Uh, what?" Hotaru replied intelligently. 

"Nightmare. Did you just have one?" Dorothy asked nonchalantly, studying her nails. Hotaru stared at her. "What? I'm perceptive. There was the thrashing, the," Doro wrinkled her nose and started counting off evidence on her fingers, "The sweating, the whimpers, the intermittent screaming of 'No! Not the face!'..." Hotaru hadn't blinked. "Okay. Bad joke." Dorothy said, shrugging. She turned her attention back to her nails, painting them a brilliant shade of blue. The acrid smell of the polish burned Hotaru's nostrils, apparently there'd been no great leap of cosmetics in the time she's missed. There was a long ghastly silence.

"Screw it." Dorothy plunked the bottle harshly down on the bedside table, blowing on her nails. "What're you running from?"

"I'm not running." Hotaru replied, avoiding Dorothy's eyes, choosing to look at her nails instead. "You know if you run them under cold water, they'll dry faster." 

"Is that so? Your redirection skills suck." Dorothy said with a slight smile. "You're terrified, I can tell.

"I used to have spells like that, you know. I don't know why. Something would just trigger it, I never can quite tell what it will be. A song, a phrase, a person, but suddenly there's this horrible paralyzing fear that hums right under my skin and terrible things flash in my mind, like bad memories or something. S'weird, because I'm not really afraid of anything." She was staring at Hotaru, through Hotaru as she said this, before shaking her head and laughing. " Wow, why the hell did I just tell you all that shit?" She hopped up from the bed, snapping her holsters in place, "No harm done. You already knew I was crazy... Besides, if you told anyone, you know I'd kill you."

Doro grinned and cocked her gun up to the ceiling, "Eh, I'm going downstairs to get a beer, but YOU should get a shower first, and just so you know, I know exactly how much money and ammunition a I have. Not that I don't trust you... well, actually, I don't. Nothing personal, I don't trust anyone."

"Why did you pick me up then?" Hotaru asked. She was too depressed to be scared by her new friend's strange behavior. Hotaru's question seemed to catch Dorothy off guard. She stopped to think, fiddling with a strand of her hair.

"I really don't know. I never pick up hitchhikers either, but for some reason you just seemed familiar. Maybe we knew each other in a past life or some shit like that, huh?" She winked and walked downstairs, heels clicking on every step.

  
  
  
  


*****

  
  


Dorothy was right about the shower. It's stupid, but facing the apocalypse is easier with clean hair. The bar was dark and smoky, and the saxaphone of a blues record wailed in the background, courtesy of the jukebox. Hotaru suppressed the urge to grin and wished she had a fedora and a pinstripe suit to make the atmosphere right. Hmm... and possibly a henchman called 'Mugsy'.

  
  


Pluto had been right. There, among a knot of shady, dark-clad men, was Mina. Hotaru was happy to see her, but a little mad that Mina had just stood by as Heero put her out on the street. She was debating going back upstairs, when the choice was taken out of her hands. Wham! "Taru-chan!" Mina squealed, sitting on top of Hotaru from where she'd been tackled. Couldn't Mina ever greet her like a normal person? She thought in exasperation. 

She wanted to say something nasty to make u for the betrayal she's felt, when Mina burst into tears. "I'm sorry!" She sobbed, "I didn't know what he did! He's sorry too! I swear! Please come back!" Hotaru's anger toward Mina melted. She probably should have put up more resistance than that, but she was carrying so much resentment inside her that it felt good to let some of it go.

"It's fine Mina. Forget about it. We have bigger problems now."

"What do you mean?" Mina asked.

"I had another dream. Let me explain..." And she did.

  
  


****

  
  


"Wow." Mina said. "So..."

"Yeah." Hotaru replied.

"Woah."

They stood, facing each other, in relative silence. "Well, we'd better start planning then." Mina decided, nodding firmly.

"What?" Taru gasped, "No, Mina, I can't do this. Not again! We can't just jump into this straight away. We're from the past. The PEACEFUL past. We can't just jump into a huge battle without knowing anything about it! Haven't you had enough of fighting? Enough blood? Enough war? Enough DEATH?" Hotaru's voice rose to a pitch perilously close to being shrill.

Mina shook her head, "Hotaru, think about it, it's the only way. You heard what Pluto said, we're trapped until we finish this once and for all. Now, if you're not going to help, quit whining and get out of my way. I have a world to save." Mina's voice became heated as she moved to brush past Hotaru, stopping as Hotaru grabbed at her wrist. 

"Mina, wait."

"Well?"

"I... I just can't go back there. They don't want me to fight with them. I'm not welcome." Hotaru whispered. "I'm sorry, I just... I can't."

Instead of softening and agreeing to go hide for a very long time somewhere warm and safe, and Hotaru had not expected, but rather hoped, she would, she laughed. "What do you mean you're not wanted? You've got the most firepower out of all of us. They'd be insane to not want you watching their backs."

Hotaru sighed, leaning back against the wall. "Well, I always figured Heero was a little crazy."

"What?" Mina exclaimed. "You're totally wanted! Trust me! I think Captain Cardboard actually felt a little bad about what he did.

"Really?" Hotaru said with a little more enthusiasm than she's meant to project.

"Oh?" Mina said, perking up, "Do you need the goddess of looooove to help?"

"No, Venus, I don't like him I.. I just... argh!" Hotaru slid down the wall into a sitting position, her face in her hands. 

"Nope, you don't like him at all." Mina grinned, leaning over, trying to peek through the cracks in Hotaru's fingers.

"Yeah, just like you don't like the blond kid. Wasshisname? Quatre? Yeah, him." Hotaru shot back, the snappiness of her comeback slightly impeded by her hands.

"Um, well, yeah, that was sort of a given when he..uh... kissed me." Mina blushed.

Hotaru's eyes snapped up to Mina's blushing face. "Well, well. Now I know why you were too preoccupied to notice Heero dumping my pitiful arse on the street."

"Hey! Not funny. I am sorry about that though." 

"S'okay. The real problem here is that even after all he's done to me, I can still feel him brushing the hair out of my eyes so I wouldn't mess up my grip in target practice, or his hands on my shoulders as he corrected my stance, and my skin feels like it's on fire. I don't get it. He's a monster. A murderer. An unspeakable bastard. So why don't I hate him?"

"Because he's got a cute butt?" Mina suggested and was rewarded with a glare, "Okay, I have no idea. But, target practice? You sure have weird ideas about romance."

  
  


*****

  
  


Meanwhile, in Heero's drunken thoughts...

  
  


Heero was upset, he had gotten stuck in a huge pot of honey, making it terribly hard for him to move. There were also little fairies hitting him on the head, saying that he'd never, ever, be a little teapot like he wanted. He was struggling, but he was so terribly tired that he was about to give up, when, suddenly, and dark-haired angel swooped down, plucking him out of the honey.

He looked up in wonder, she had the prettiest purple eyes. He knew, somewhere deep down that he was very, very drunk, and none of this was actually happening, but instead he concentrated on the feeling of her soft breasts crushed against his cheek and the perfect curve of her hips, and suddenly didn't care. 

  
  


The laptop suppressed nearly all hormones not necessary for growth, and the sudden lack of programming and strict regulation of feelings. Was new, and currently not entirely unpleasant.

  
  


Damn that lap-top withdrawal!

  
  


*****

  
  


"Hey! 'Taru! Where have you been?" Dorothy shouted, making her way over to them, a beer clutched in each hand. 

"Who's that?" Mina asked.

"That's Dorothy. Pluto says she should come back with us."

Mina eyed the visible holsters, the low cut blouse, mini-skirt, and leather boots. "Do we have to?"

"Shush, she helped me out." 

"Hey 'Taru. Was this who you were running from? I don't see why." Dorothy eyed Mina, who blushed, "Ex-girlfriend?"

"Do we really have to?" Mina hissed.

"Yes, ... uh, I mean, no, she's just an old friend." Hotaru stammered.

"Mmm hmm, I get it." Dorothy smiled knowingly.

Hotaru sighed and looked over at Mina. Mina rolled her eyes, and made a gesture that Hotaru took to mean, 'whatever'. She turned back to Dorothy, "You up for a road trip?"

  
  


It took them less than ten minutes to re-pack their things. They decided to take Mina's car. There was only one small problem with this plan of events, so astutely stated by Dorothy. "Yo, what the hell happened to the kinky bondage soldier boys back here?"

  
  


******

In the end, Hotaru had drawn the short straw and ended up squashed in the back seat with the bound Trieze, and the nearly unconscious Heero. About an hour into their trip back, Hotaru's luck had run out. Heero had re-gained some lucidity, though sadly not any of his motor functions.

"Mm..H'lo 'Taru." Heero wavered as he tried to sit up, before giving up and collapsing into the crook of her shoulder. She tried to shift his body off of hers, and leaning back onto Trieze, but he was rather heavier than she'd expected and only succeeded in settling him into a slightly more comfortable position as he dropped off back into his drunken sleep. His arms snaked around her waist and his nose was pressed against her neck. 

At a sharp turn, he jolted back to awareness, looking up at her through bleary, but admittedly pretty dark blue eyes. "You smell nice." He said, with surprisingly little slur, and a strange half-smile, then leaned down to puke all over her shoes. 

  
  


******

  
  
  
  


For everyone who wanted a little romantic moment... Aren't I evil, make a little piece of sap, then spoil it completely... *grins*

  
  


Press that little button to review for more sap, less sap, no sap, more of your fave characters, to comment on my crappy, mutable characterization, etc! Please do review though!

  
  


WHOEVER GIVES ME MY 200TH REVIEW WILL GET A SPECIAL PIC DRAWN FOR THEM! 

To check out the goods, please visit my gallery (if anyone knows of a good, free, art host, please tell me!) , at:

  
  


Thank you all for reading/reviewing!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	14. Reconaissance: in which the title finall...

  
  


Chapter Fourteen: Reconnaissance (In which the title finally makes some sense)

  
  


Author's Notes: Ahh! I just realized I forgot to add in a scene in the third chapter, well, two scenes, to be precise. One leads up to the grand finale, the other makes up for the absolutely appalling lack of Wufei, and explains his relationship with Hotaru a little further. These scenes should go right before Hotaru comes down into the bar.

In the final edit, which I will do once the entire story is finished, these scenes will be moved, along with the fixing of previous dialogue and shoddy characterizations, as well as some typos and plot holes I noticed only after posting, but for now, these scenes can live here! Sorry again! I'm hoping to get this whole beast at least outlined, if not written by the end of the month. Feel free to harass me with e-mails and reviews if you think I'm going too slow. Sometimes, if no one reminds me to get it done, months will go by before I realize I've had a mostly-done chapter in my hard-drive for MONTHS, and I haven't posted. I know, I know, I should be shot. 

  
  


This should be the second last chapter! I'm down to less than two pages of planning notes! Woot!

  
  


APOLOGIES: I stole the line about the blood from the season five finale of Buffy, and the memory sequence structure is very, very similar to Echo's in her fab fic, "A Drop in the Ocean"; I didn't realize this until I re-read it, and am now too lazy to re-write it, so please give any and all credit for that scene to her. Oops!

  
  


*****

  
  


Duo woke with a groan, and opened his eyes to see Wufei leaning over his bed. He was in the infirmary. Again.

"What the hell?" Duo swore.

Wufei frowned at him. "I take it that you're feeling revived? You're cursing again, so you must feel like yourself." He stated dryly, placing a bookmark between the pages, and closing his book.

"Funny, Wu-man. Care to tell me why I'm back in the frigging infirmary?" Duo scowled.

"Well, you're in the 'frigging infirmary'," Wufei scowled and made a sulky face in an attempt to imitate Duo, "Because you collapsed at target practice this afternoon. Dropped off into a pretty deep sleep for no apparent reason. Iria was quite worried, thinking you've pushed yourself too hard since you and Hotaru wiped out those Youma formations." 

"Oh." Duo said sheepishly, as if things were coming back to him, "Yeah, that. Uh, whoops?"

"Well, Iria's decided that you're stuck with bed rest for the next two days, so I hope it was an interesting dream." Wufei shrugged, not seeming at all put out at the concept of getting Duo out of his hair for two days. Also, incidentally, out of his bathroom, his shampoo, his food, and his gundam. 

Wufei was getting sick of the constant practical jokes.

Strangely enough, Duo didn't pout, scowl, or attempt to forcibly remove himself from the room, instead his face was very still and he seemed to be lost in thought. "Yeah," Duo eventually answered, "It was interesting all right, pretty informative too. I was talking to Hotaru, and this real pretty lady, Pluto. I don't really know how, but I remember her."

"Fascinating." Wufei answered, returning his attention to his book.

"Yep," Duo continued, unperturbed, "But I woke up before I even got to razz her about running off with Heero!" 

Wufei frowned slightly, but made only a vague sound of agreement, attempting to tune Duo out.

Duo's brow furrowed, "Oi! I said, Hotaru running off with Heero."

Wufei sighed in defeat, and looked up from his book again. "Yes, I heard you the first time. I assure you, I understand the concept."

Duo cocked his head to the side. "And you're not the least bit upset with this? I saw the way you look at her sometimes, hell, the way she'd light up around you occasionally, and you're telling me you're not the least bit upset with this?"

"Truthfully, yes." Wufei held up a hand to forestall a triumphant yell from Duo, "BUT, it's not for the reasons you think. I'm disappointed in that she chose Heero if she's looking for romantic attachment, because he might not return any feelings she has for him. It might not be possible for him to return her feelings with that damn psychological conditioning of his.

"There is a possibility that this trip is not romantic, as the annoying onna is gone as well. Perhaps Heero took them on a mission to assure himself of their loyalty. It's something he would do, and thanks to Iria, and your little stunt with Hotaru, we know they're fully capable of defending themselves.

" I am rather upset that she left without a goodbye, or even a note saying where she went." Wufei's eyes drifted away from Duo's to the floor and his mouth tightened and his expression grew sad and somewhat wistful. "If it was another time, then maybe. She's very beautiful. She's considerate, powerful, funny, hard-working, stubborn, and too-easily upset, but she's one of the strongest people I'll ever know." Wufei paused, struggling to find the right words. Wufei was speaking quietly about himself and his past, something he'd never shared before, to Duo's knowledge. Duo held his breath, afraid that at the slightest disturbance, this sudden spell might be broken.

"If it was a few years later, or even a few years earlier, before all of this began, then maybe I could have fallen in love with her. I probably would have, actually..." A slight smile slid momentarily across his solemn features. "...But she reminds me of someone I used to know. Someone I used to love. Reminds me too much, they're too similar for any romance between us to ever work out. I know this, she knows this. All we have been is friends, and that's all we ever will be." Wufei shrugged philosophically, but his shoulders were clenched, so it didn't work very well. 

They sat in a semi-companionable silence for a few minutes, before Duo realized Wufei wasn't going to tell him anything else. "You realize that's the longest thing you've ever said to me that didn't include a death threat?"

A small, but true, grin settled on Wufei's face as he replied. "It's the first time in talking to you, that you haven't warranted one, baka."

"Ooh, you just lost your entire winning streak with that one!" Duo stuck out his tongue. 

To Duo's surprise, and Wufei's as well, Wufei chuckled. "Quit interrogating me, and tell me about this 'interesting' dream of yours. For all we know, these new powers of yours could involve precognition."

"Telling the future right? I frigging hope so! If they do, I am SO heading to the nearest casino."

  
  


# flashback: a few days ago, Hotaru and Wufei are sitting in a dojo-style room, stretching after their respective workouts.#

"Who's Meiran?" Hotaru asked.

Wufei sat up from his stretch too suddenly, jerking his muscles painfully, "What?" He snapped.

Hotaru shrank back from his angry expression. "It's just... well, you called me Meiran the first time was met. I was... I was just wondering who she is."

Wufei sighed, suddenly looking very sad. "Was, Hotaru, who she was. She's dead now."

Hotaru nodded, now understanding the wistful looks he gave her. She understood loss. She had thought that Meiran was a sister or lover that was long lost. She had seen the pain of crushed hope in his eyes the first day she was awake, and she had been careful to keep a thin barrier between them, the avoid hurting him unintentionally. She knew she reminded him of someone he had loved, but the curiosity had been driving her up the wall. No one knew who Meiran was, and it had just slipped out. She waited silently for him to continue, moving closer to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. He had obviously loved her, but it seemed that he didn't want to allow himself to grieve.

"She was... my wife."

  
  


She had comforted him, made soothing noises and rubbed his back as he finally broke down and cried for his wife for the first time. She cried too, holding him on the dusty wooden floor. 

When the tears finally abated, he felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders. She was dead, and by allowing himself to grieve, he could finally accept that she was gone for good. He would probably never stop missing her, but he could heal.

Having a friend like Hotaru helped. He surprised himself by thinking of her with brotherly affection, after vowing to never open himself to be hurt by anyone after Meiran's death. 

It didn't, however, stop him from swearing her to secrecy afterward.

#end flashback#

  
  
  
  


Wufei sat back, slouching deep into his chair in shock as Duo finished filling him in on his strange dreams, memories, and what Hotaru had told him. 

Who knew she had such power? 

Who knew Duo had such power?

Wufei, for all his anti-social tendencies, was an extremely good observer of human behavior. Duo was trying not to show it, but in his white knuckles and stiff movements, Wufei could tell he was terrified. He was afraid of losing himself to this new person inside him, and of the power washing away his sense of self. The power was hurting him, burning in his blood.

  
  


*****

  
  


Trieze failed. I know it. The metal electrodes in my brain absorb most of the electrical signals that would give me visions, but some premonitions still leak through. Also, he probably would have called to gloat long before now. 

It's almost ironic. I rely on my network to let me travel the dream-paths, but it's the machines in my body that stop the power from coming naturally. I don't remember much of my childhood before the age of four, when my parents and their protectors were murdered and my 'special' power went insane. I'm told that I went through nearly a year of uncontrollable seizures and psychotic episodes before they managed to develop sufficient technology to suppress the constant visions, and the power that was ripping my small body apart. 

Literally. They showed me some vids and pictures when I was around ten or so, and began wondering why I had to plug myself into the wall of computers everyday when all the other kids were allowed to go outside to play. It was really quite sickening.

My mother might have been able to help me control it, at least that's what Nanny told me. I don't remember her so well now. It's been a few hundred years since, but the anger still remains. It's all that remains, really.

  
  


I know I'm more than a little crazy, the power is ripping me apart, the microchips are shorting out. They were implanted when I was five, and my brain grew around them since. They can't be fixed, they can't be removed. The doctors who implanted them couldn't have known that in my blood, I have the power to live for millennia. The power, I can't handle it, not like Mama could. I've got one last thing to do, before I can rest. This is why I started up this organization in the fist place, monitoring the planet, keeping the population, and the rebellious colonies under my thumb. To find the bitches that betrayed her. 

  
  


After searching every remote cave and space station, I nearly gave up, but, a few centuries I've finally found them. The psychic signatures just appeared one day, totally unexpectedly. I've seen that psychic's dreams, my mother's ghost haunts her still. It's not enough, though. They have to pay. Saturn and Venus. That's all I have on them. 

Most of my memory, save a few fragments were wiped out when the chips were put in my head, so all I have of my past, my origins, is what Nanny could fill in.

My mother was very beautiful, the stories all agree on that. She and my father ruled the universe with their eight protectors, each named for a planet in our solar system, no one really knows why. Through our veins flowed the royal blood, giving us incredible power and virtual immortality barring violence.

My parents were allied with the negaverse who helped them patrol the outer boundaries of space, it was a happy prosperous time. All of these were well-known facts. It's only the massacre and the motivations of the perpetrators that opinions differ. 

Some say Venus was attempting a coup of the throne, a lot of youma tell me that Saturn was a racist, she attempted to wipe out their race, and my parents were caught in the crossfire trying to prevent genocide. Most agree that, whatever the motivation, they went a little mad that day, slaughtering those with royal, youma and human blood indescriminately.

  
  


If only I could remember exactly what happened that day, but I was so young, so scared. I don't know how to wield this power to defeat them. 

If only I could remember what happened, I might find a way to kill them once and for all, and end our nightmare. It was such a very long time ago. My memories fly by; fragmented like my mind.

  
  


They said it was my blood. The power was in my blood. I was royalty.

Because it's always got to be the blood.

...Could destroy the whole world...

Can she do that? Could Saturn really do that?

Mamoru, no! Don't you dare!

I have to Usa, protect Rini, I love you.

..love you...

Mama's blood runs down my forehead, into my eyes. We've got to go Mama! Please! The portal's closing!

Purple light, the purple light's burning the youma. They're screaming!

Hurts/hurts/hurts/hurts, there's blood! My blood?

Jupiter thunder!

NO! Ami! She's not breathing!

Venus love me chain!

Silence Wall!

Dead scream.

Power runs through your blood little one, what's your name?

'cause it's always in the blood.

Pain/pain/pain/can't breathe/body hurts/can't stop shaking/help me!

Saturn, stop!

Go girl! Run!

Venus is down, hurry up!

Mama? Mama! Wake up! Please! Please! Please? 

Her blood soaks me, I'm swimming in it.

Her blood was power, they said. Like mine.

It's always blood.

Puu sings me to sleep; 'Baby's been lied to: Mama said, Mama said. Baby should go on back to bed, Mama said, Mama said. But baby-girl's the jewel in their crown, Mama said, go to bed. Tell the truth, and they'll all fall down, Baby's head's as good as dead.

Whispers; I'm sorry Small-Lady. I wish it weren't so, but this is a necessary evil. It is the way things have to be. The only way to end it...

  
  


My thoughts are interrupted by yet another of my nameless aides. "Excuse me, madam? Une would like to speak with you in conference room eleven. Something about Trieze, Miss Rini..."

  
  


"Don't call me that, don't you ever call me that! That is not my name!" I snap back at him, he eyes glowing with fury in the pale light.

  
  


The aide backs out of the room stammering his apologies with wide, terrified eyes. I know he will tell the other aides about his encounter with the 'crazy machine lady in the tower' when his terror fades and he changes his soiled pants. He'd probably been dared to call me Rini by one of his stupider peers. Rumors about me are popular and frequent among my colleagues. 

He's lucky I'm not in a killing mood today.

  
  


*******

  
  


Heero had woken up, hungover, grumpy, and totally unware of his behavior of the past few hours. He'd woken up entwined in Hotaru's arms, his head resting on the slope of her breast, with her hand tracing abstract patterns in the back of his tee shirt. He was in the midst of sighing, nuzzling his head farther into his chest, and dropping back off to sleep, when he realized where he was.

She eye snapped open, and he sat bolt upright, smacking the crown of his head on the underside on Hotaru's jaw. He stared at the wet mark on her shirt where he must have drooled. "How the hell?" He muttered. 

"What did you do to me?" He snapped. She drugged him. She must have. What other explanation could there be? The car lurched suddenly to the side, taking his stomach along for the ride. His eyes widened and he made an ominous gurgling noise. She MUST have drugged him, he felt AWFUL!

"Well, good morning sunshine, took you long enough to get up." She rolled her eyes, "I know you don't like me touching you, so I kept trying to lean you on Trieze but you latched on and wouldn't let go." Her eyes looked anywhere but his, and she was... blushing?

Before Heero could analyze this new turn of events, Mina swung the car around another sharp corner, taking it on two wheels. As he made a vow to never let her drive again, his stomach began bubbling and protesting again in a most alarming manner. "Move over." He snapped.

Hotaru shrugged and gestured her thigh, pressed firmly against the car door. "I can't, this is as far as I can go." Heero pulled his eyes away from her thigh. Drugged. Definitely. It was the only explanation.

"I can't reach the window." Heero replied, starting to turn a little green.

"That's because you're in the middle, genius." She rolled her eyes, rubbing at her jaw where it had been struck. "I think this is gonna bruise."

"I need to reach that window."

"Tough noogies. We're almost back, we're not stopping." She put a finger in her mouth, trying to feel if her tongue was bleeding.

To Heero, it didn't look like that was what she was doing, moving her finger around in her mouth. 'Trying to distract me?' he thought, 'I will get to that window!' He took a deep breath, trying to calm his rebellious lunch from showing up again. "Unless you want me to be sick all over you, I suggest you move."

Hotaru made a face as she unbuckled her seatbelt and scooted out of the way. "Well," She sighed, looking disgusted, "It wouldn't be the first time."

  
  
  
  
  
  


*****

  
  


Just when Iria thought life couldn't surprise her anymore, it went and pulled a doozy on her. She was pretty weird to begin with, as least that's what she had thought.

Having twenty-nine siblings was pretty unusual, especially since twenty-eight of them were female. She smirked at the memory of poor father and poor, poor Quatre having to live through twenty-nine females in one (admittedly huge) house, with PMS. Adding to copious siblings, she was a doctor, un-biased and non-military, someone extremely rare in these troubled times. He brother was a gundam pilot, one of the five people in the world trained to pilot special mobile-suits with a chance of winning against OZ. She thought it was bad, having to adjust to all-out war, but it was nothing compared to this.

Two teenagers, (actually they were centuries old, but they still looked and acted like teens, didn't they?) came along and flipped her entire world-view.

Magic exists. Magic exists. Magic exists. 

She shook her head as she fiddled with her brandy snifter filled from her rich, expensive emergency stock. She giggled and drained the glass. If this wasn't an emergency, she didn't want to know what was.

A few weeks ago, the suggestion of magic being real would have been cause for kind, patient words, and a rush scheduling of a psychiatric evaluation. A decade ago, the suggestion would have been met by rolled eyes and a derisive snort. Before that, in her childhood, the suggestion would have delighted her. Now, it seemed a burden, heavy, unfair, and very, very tangible. 

She wanted to cry after hearing Mina's story, proof of the cruelty of life and destiny. She, however, wasn't sure if it was because she felt sorry for Minako's struggles, or for the fact that she, herself, wasn't chosen.

  
  


She didn't really have time to consider it as Quatre burst into the office, "Iria, come on! Mina, Hotaru and Heero are back!"

Iria almost laughed at the mess her life had become. She hadn't even known they were gone.

  
  


****

They pulled into the driveway to a grand reception with a mixed bag of expressions on their faces. Iria looked relieved, and a bit confused, as if she hadn't known they were gone, but was glad they were back, apparently unharmed.

Wufei was disgruntled, glaring alternately at Heero, Hotaru, and Duo, who kept trying to leap out of the wheelchair Iria had forced him into. He ignored Mina, though she didn't seem to mind, eyeing the two new arrivals warily.

Quatre was both jubilant and apprehensive, as he approached Mina. Mina grinned and jumped into his arms. The apprehension disappeared from his face as she whispered in his ear about having to bloody chase down Hotaru to apologize to her, and apologizing for disappearing.

She smiled widely, and he suddenly noticed how very close her body was to his. He blushed deeply, causing her smile to widen, and ask if he had any peppermint gum.

Duo's expression was by far the most complicated. Normally very open, he was quite adept at showing his feelings on his face, and letting everyone else know exactly what he was feeling at the moment. At that particular moment, he was relieved, annoyed, exasperated, nervous, hurt, protective (of Hotaru, he was suddenly eyeing Heero in a very unfriendly way), and very, very confused. Suspicious glances were cast at the newcomers, but they were, for the most part, ignored, as he focused on his sister.

Trowa was, as usual, completely unreadable.

  
  


Apart from Mina and Quatre, who were too wrapped up in each other to pay attention to much of anything else, the rest of their reception was staring alternately at Heero and Hotaru, waiting for an explanation.

Heero scowled and crossed his arms across his chest, trying to hide his hangover. He'd never known misery quite like this before. Not even when he'd broken his leg. Not even when he'd set that broken leg by himself.

Hotaru rolled her eyes at Heero, then glanced over at Dorothy, who was looking bored, but was eyeing Iria and the boys with lidded eyes and a strange half-smile on her face, she looked over to Trieze who was still bound, and , thankfully, gagged, but was glaring daggers at everyone he could see. She sighed. "I guess I should explain." 

There was a short pause, broken by Duo, as usual, "Well DUH." 

Seeing a potential fight cropping up, Trowa, who was thoroughly confused, and fed up with trying to work everything out with limited information, stepped in. "Let's go to the war room." He said quietly. "We need to know everything. There's recording devices there." He nodded at Hotaru, "I'm sure we'll need them. This is bound to be a very long story." 

Hotura suppressed a laugh. Oh yes. Quite long indeed.

  
  


******

  
  


"Wait, hold on, your dead friend told you this? I'm going to go with a great big 'what the fuck' on that one." Dorothy interrupted, earning a sharp glare from Wufei. 

"If you would kindly stop interrupting, onna, then I'm sure it will all make sense in time. Let Hotaru finish her explanation."

"You mean I'm the only one having a hard time believing this?" Dorothy replied, a stunned expression on her face.

"Actually," Quatre said, pursing his lips in contemplation of the last few day's events. "It's making a lot of sense."

Hotaru cleared her throat loudly, "Can I finish now?" She asked impatiently. "Now, as I was saying, Pluto was explaining to me that the power of the crystal is steady, and incredibly powerful; like a rushing river. People open to magical power, like Duo, Mina, Quatre, and myself are little creeks running off the river. Currently, the number of streams is too small, we're getting flooded." Hotaru glanced around the room. Trowa was nodding occasionally, while taking notes, as was Wufei, though he looked slightly worried. Mina was pale, and clutched at Quatre's hand, though he didn't look much better himself. Iria was fascinated, Dorothy bored, and Heero was looking at her with an expression actually approaching concern.

Duo, immediately grasping the situation, and not seeming to care, rolled his eyes. He cleared his throat, and in his best 'TV News Anchor' voice, announced: "And Now, for the Cheesy Metaphor section of our story..." He gestured grandly. 

Hotaru growled and threw a pencil at Duo. "This is serious. Shut up Duo, or I will make you. My stream's bigger than yours."

"Hey, hey! My stream is plenty big!" Duo replied, looking insulted, and rather lewd. "Ask Iria, she's seen me naked in surgery." Dorothy perked up, giving Duo a smirking once-over before returning to her doodles.

"Duo..." Hotaru began, fed up, but was interrupted by Heero pulling his gun on Duo. He hadn't plugged in for more than three days, but old reflexes die hard.

"Let. Her. Finish." He hissed through gritted teeth.

"Um, thanks Heero." Hotaru said, "As I was saying..." She continued the telling of the dream, leaving out her arguments with Duo, and his embarrassing declarations of so-called, "Nummy Goodness."

She frowned at Duo as she finished. "If you hadn't butted in on my dream, Pluto might have told me more about these power suppressants," She sighed, running her hand through her hair, "If this goes on much longer, we might need them."

Duo's eyebrow's rose, "ExCUSE me? Butted in? From what Wufei and I have been able to work out, either I was called there, or I was so worried about your little joyride that I pulled myself there as soon as your mind was open! Who's fault is THAT? Hmm?? I'M not the one who ran off to Sin-City with Slutty the Wonder-Hoe over there."

"Hey!" Dorothy objected.

Hotaru made a sound somewhere between a choke and a squeak. "What? Joyride? I was kicked out. At gun point no less!" She threw her hands into the air and glared at Heero, who was still looking grumpy, and rather hung-over. "You didn't tell them?!?" She exclaimed.

Heero shrugged and studied his shoes, having the good graces to at least look somewhat chagrined.

Hotaru snorted, "Of course not, never mind." She looked over at Mina, "Wait a minute, YOU didn't tell them either?"

Mina blushed, "Um, well, I was really worried, so I just grabbed Heero and headed for the nearest car as soon as I weaseled it out of him."

Hotaru groaned, "Figures." She slid down to let her head thump the table.

"If you're all quite done, I still have a few questions." Wufei said, looking annoyed at their theatrics. "Mina told us about your friends being reborn in various time periods since their death, but if you were sent to this time period to end things, shouldn't everyone have made their contribution to the cause by now? What ever happened to..." He trailed off to consult the notes he'd made as Mina and Hotaru explained their history in detail, "... Uranus, and the Royal Family. I doubt that personages of such power would have made gone unnoticed by society if they'd already been reborn with the power levels you'd described. What happened to them?"

  
  


Mina frowned, bit her lip, and looked to the other end of the table, as most of the others had done after hearing Hotaru's description of her dream.

Dorothy, feeling the weight of their stares, looked up from the notepad she'd been doodling on. "What?"

  
  


*****

Heero was staring at his computer when Hotaru knocked. Why was he hesitating? It should be easy, sit down, plug in, re-charge, forget. Instead, here he was, feeling bad about kicking Hotaru out and behind cruel to her. He hadn't realized just how much emotion and...well... hormones were suppressed by it's programming. 

The thoughts that plagued him were an annoyance really. Suddenly, instead of a target, an ally, an enemy, all he saw when he looked at Hotaru was long legs, glossy black hair, and the hidden intelligence and strength behind her big violet eyes. 

He groaned. What had she done to him? She knocked again.

"Enter." He stated, and she did, walking in and silently sitting on his bed. 

"I came to return this." She said in that quiet, steely voice she sometimes had when she was being serious. She held out the gun he'd lent to her to practice with. 

He frowned, how did she...?

She blushed lightly under his puzzled look. "I picked the lock of the armory with a hairpin. It wasn't too hard." She winced, "Guess I'm validating your inherent mistrust, huh?"

He reached out and took the gun from her, noticing her shiver as their fingers brushed together. He didn't understand. Was she that disgusted with him that she couldn't bear touching him? He wanted to pound his head into the wall for caring what she thought.

The moment passed and her eyes met his. "I understand." She said.

Heero's breath hitched for a minute, but she didn't seem to be looking at his laptop "Why you did what you did, I mean." She sighed and sat back on his bed. "I lied to you, and I'm sorry, but would you have believed me if I told you the truth the first time?" He shook his head, she continued. "What you did, throwing me out, was the right thing to do, well, from your point of view at least. I didn't enjoy it too much." She paused, looking up at him again, "But if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I'm kicking your ass, understand?" He nodded.

She smiled up at him, and hopped off the bed, trotting out the door. Heero groaned again, letting his head fall back to his desk. What had she done to him? If he didn't re-charge soon, he was in trouble.

Problem was, he didn't know if he wanted to. These feeling had started to tear through his programming before their road trip; in the way she'd stand up to him, in the determined look on her face as he taught her how to fire a gun. What had she done to him?

  
  


*****

  
  


Wufei slammed his fist down on the table, causing Quatre, Trowa, and Mina too look up at him, startled. "This is useless!" He snarled, and whirled to stomp out of the room.

Mina rolled her eyes, "I hate to admit it, and will deny it if you ever bring it up, but Wufei does have a point. I mean, all we've got is a nursery rhyme?"

Quatre nodded, "True, we've always had pretty good reconnaissance on our missions, and on Oz in general, but I've never heard about this 'negaverse' before. I'm sure we'll find a way," He reached under the table to squeeze Mina's hand, "But I just don't see us having any success until we have more information, and I don't see how we'll be able to get it."

Mina's gaze wandered over to the supply closet where Trieze was tied up. A huge, evil grin spread slowly across her face as a plan formed.

Quatre glanced over at his girlfriend, "No. Oh no."

"Oh yes!" Mina exclaimed triumphantly, jumping out of her chair.

"No Mina, this is a really bad idea." Quatre pleaded.

"Would you rather sit here and mope, or do something? C'mon Quatre, I thought you were a man of action." She moved over to him, leaning down to touch her forehead to his, looking at him through downcast eyelashes, "I for one can think of many actions I'd rather be doing."

Quatre's face turned a rather amusing shade of red and he began to stutter.

"Great!" Mina exclaimed, swatting his chest lightly with her palm, "I knew you'd agree!"

Trowa rolled his eyes, relaxing back in his chair. Mina would get some answers, or she'd explode trying. Either way, it should be amusing to watch. 

Trowa was tentatively in favor of the idea, their situation could only improve from the absolute dearth of information they had at the moment. "Bring him in here, I'll set up the surveillance tape for you." He said quietly, causing Mina's smile to grow even brighter, approaching the million-watt mark. Even if they had brought nothing but trouble, he began to warm under the force of her smile, he was starting to understand what Quatre saw in her.

  
  


******

  
  


"That's it!" Heero thought, snapping out of his trance to realize he'd spent the last hour staring at his computer screen. There was no way he could function like this. He'd have to reboot, at least until the war was over... then, maybe... he stopped that train of thought at the station. 

He needed to be at full strength if he wanted to win the war and save Hotaru, Mina, Quatre and Duo from being driven insane by their own power. He took a deep breath and flipped up the patches of fake skin. He'd inserted his wires and had just begun the charging process when Hotaru walked in.

She froze. She looked at his arms, tracing the wires back to the computer. Arms. Laptop. Arms. Laptop.

Then; she screamed, jerking him out of the meditative-like state induced by the charge.

"W-w-w-what the hell?" She stammered backing up against the wall, summoning her glaive from it's subspace pocket.

He reached a reassuring hand towards her, straining at his wires. She tensed and pointed the glaive at him. "What are you doing." She asked, her voice cold and cautious.

"I'm..." Heero found himself completely at a loss. He was too tired to concoct an elaborate lie, or to try to force her out without an explanation (besides, after hearing the full extent of he power, he wasn't sure he could).

"I'm charging." He said flatly, keeping his face blank, hoping she would leave it at that.

Of course, she didn't. "And that's supposed to mean?" She made a circular waving gesture with her arm, indicating that he should continue. 

He repeated what Dr. J had told him when his mechanical parts where first implanted. "That means the computer is recharging the mechanical implants in my muscles and skeleton, enhancing my speed, strength and endurance. It's also sending orders to my brain to ignore all pheremones and unnecessary signals my body may send to my brain." He shrugged.

She lowered her glaive, "I remember I sensed something off about you the first time we met in the hanger. So these blocked signals are, like, feelings?"

Heero nodding, "Yes, as well as pain and fatigue, amongst other things."

"Wow, no feelings." She paused, returning her glaive to subspace. She cocked her head to the side, and grinned slightly. "And here I thought you were just an asshole."

Heero's eyes narrowed. "Okay, not funny." She replied.

They stared at each other in silence for a few moments. "So no happiness, or friendship or love. Doesn't that bother you?" She asked, sincerity plain in her eyes.

"Not until now," He mumbled.

"What?" She asked, "I didn't hear that."

He cleared his throat, uncomfortable under her intense stare. "No. It's necessary. For battle."

She narrowed her eyes. "So that's how you're gonna be? Close yourself off? Let yourself forget what you're fighting for, who you're fighting for because it's easier that way? And here I thought there might be a decent person under all that programming." She scowled. She tossed a small black object onto his bed. "Here. I forgot to return the clip when I returned your gun."

Heero's face reddened. "I need this. Without charging up, my mechanical joints would stop working and I'd lose my edge in battle."

Hotaru's expression softened, "But what about after the war, Heero? Why do you want to save the world if you don't want to live in it? You can't just be a war hero forever, you know. You're gonna have to start living sometime." 

"I don't plan on living through this war." His own bluntness surprised himself.

Hotaru's smile faded and she moved over to him, ripping a wire out of his arm savagely, "Don't you ever say that again. You are going to live through this or I will kill you myself." She stopped, stunned at the words, Shi's words, coming out of her mouth. She took a deep breath and tried again, "Look, Duo's made up his mind that all of us are going to live through this, and you know how stubborn he is, he just never gives up until he gets his way. Whether you like it or not, you're going to have to learn to deal with the world," She handed back the wire she'd snatched rather sheepishly, "I know you need to charge up for reflexes and stuff, but you're smart, couldn't you figure out a way to leave your head alone? I was kind of beginning to like you this way. Friendly, even." She patted his shoulder, grinned and swept out of the room, leaving behind a maelstrom of chaotic thoughts in her wake.

He fingered the metal wire lying in his hand, J had said the entire process was needed to be effective, but who knows, maybe he could figure it out.

  
  
  
  


*****

  
  


Minako's eyes twinkled as she faced Trieze, their face only inches apart. 

She smiled. 

It was not a nice smile.

"Now, now," She began casually, "I'm going to ask you ONE more time, why are you after us?" Trieze snarled at her. She snarled back, and shoved his chair back against the wall, with a disgusted scowl.

"Mina! Lay off, violence won't get you anywhere." Quatre intervened, laying a restraining hand on her shoulder, looking concerned. 

She tensed, and shrugged it off, "On the contrary, dear, I think violence will get me everywhere." She narrowed her eyes, and glared at Trieze, "Don't you?"

Quatre, looking slightly panicked, turned to Trieze, "Look, just tell her okay?" His voice started to rise, "I'm sure you agree with me when I say I really don't want her to peel your skin off, strip by strip, like she's been plotting to do all afternoon." Trieze paled.

"Oh yes, blood's just nasty to get out of the carpet, isn't it?" She arched one eyebrow. "Don't worry sweet, I'll be neat about it." She traced the tip of her finger lightly across his shoulder blades; he shivered.

She picked up a knife and purred, "I've always wanted to find out how much someone could bleed and stay conscious, wanna find out?" 

Trieze squeaked and began to babble everything he knew. A little encouragement from the combined mental skills of the interrogators helped, of course. He spilled the location of the base, codes, personnel population, and the fact that there was an insane psychic in the most senior position of the base with a major death wish against the girls. Something personal.

A short time after that, he seemed to realize that his confession wasn't all due to Mina's skillful (and quite disturbing) interrogation, and he managed to block most of the mental coercion. They had gotten most of the needed information already, though, so Mina continued on as if nothing happened, trying to wring additional information out of Trieze through interrogation alone.

  
  


" Someone's been very naughty." She said in a child-like singsong as she began ticking things off on her fingers, while listing them. "First, you try and take over the world, and that's never a good thing. Then you and your associates attack my friend's home and drive little Hotaru off to Nowhere! Now, you're now sharing like you should be. What's wrong with you? Didn't mummy give you enough hugs when you were little? You reverse Oedipal or something?"

"Bitch." Trieze spat in return, "You think insulting me's going to make me tell you more?"

Minako's eyes darkened dangerously, then lit up with a mischievous light. "Well, actually yes. Ooooh. I see your problem now. You must have a really small penis."

Quatre's eyes widened and he yanked Minako out of the room as Trieze started to redden, thrashing against his bonds and screaming expletives at the top of his lungs. "Hit a nerve, did I? They were teasing you! Size does matter!" Mina called before Quatre shut the door.

Quatre darted out of the room, a light sheen of sweat on his face. Breathing deeply he started to chuckle quietly. "I can't believe you just did that. Reverse Oedipal? You must have a really small penis??"

Mina covered her mouth with her hands, "Neither can I! D'you think slapping him was a bit much?" She giggled, "I can not believe I said that!"

"Said what?"

The couple jumped, with rather guilty looks on their faces. Quatre opened his mouth to explain, but Duo had already opened the door and was staring in shock.

"Shit, Minako," Duo said as he looked at the destruction Trieze was incurring in his wrath. He'd somehow managed to get his legs free, and had already destroyed the table. "He's really pissed off, what did you say to him?"

Mina shrugged, "I told him he wanted to kill his mother and fuck his father. Then I insulted the size of his..ahem, package."

Duo blinked, then a grin to match Mina's graced his face.

They high-fived and Quatre just shook his head.

  
  


*****

  
  


Trowa slipped out of the armory, finishing his inventory and checks on their weapons/ammo status. This is it, something in his chest told him. This is what we've been waiting for our entire lives, this battle is gearing up to either victory, or total annihilation.

  
  


Fear, excitement, anxiety and a fierce anticipation coursed through his veins warring with each other. One way or another his war would be over in this battle.

He could feel it in his bones, his flesh, his blood.

Because it's always about the blood.

  
  
  
  
  
  


*****

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


*snort* Trust Heero to think gun play is romantic...

  
  
  
  


Thank you to everyone who reviewed!

  
  
  
  


Transcendant Yeah *cringes* there's been a lack of Minako too... sorry! Tenshi: Thanks! It means a lot to me that you like it! Sugarbrat, Cloud Dragon, Rachel Evans: Ah! A faithful reviewer has returned to the fold! *cackles* See! *looks proud* Look how fast I posted! Just because you begged!, Lady-Tomoyo, WikeD tEnShi, Sammie, Whisper Reilman: Yeah, I know, H/W was pretty cute, I was wavering between for a while, but I think this was the logical conclusion for their relationship. Fallen Firefly, Xtreme Nuisance, The Elemental (hey, welcome back! Did you change your e-mail or something?), & C Martin! 

Thanks guys!

  
  


PREVIEW OF NEXT CHAP:

  
  
  
  


"Power of love and the planet of Venus, punish these destroyers of peace!"

Duo looked at Mina, raising his eyebrow in one of those expressions he likes to pretend he doesn't have, "Um, Power of the 9mm semi-automatic, kill a lot of youma."

  
  


Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review!

Reviews are good for children and other living things.


	15. Zee Grand Finale!

  
  


Chapter 15.

  
  


The humus line, and the nifty one, are blatantly stolen from BtVS, I couldn't help it, I swear!

Who ever can catch the referance to 'The Princess Bride' gets a cookie!

  
  


This is the last chapter! Well, apart from the epilogue. (Elemental, e-mail me! Claim your prize, I don't want to put it up without your go-ahead!) This isn't the last you'll see of me though! As well as the epilogue, there will also be the thank-yous, and the final edit, missing scenes et-al, so be sure to check back.

Please review this, this was one of the hardest things I've ever written, and I'd like to see how you thought it worked out. Also, make sure to tell me if you're interested in a sequel or not, there are still plenty of issues I could stretch out instead of making an all-inclusive epilogue, as well as any questions you feel I've left un-answered! 

I love feedback, please, I would make my day! I rejoice over every single one!

  
  


Here we go....

  
  


*****

  
  


"Is everyone here?" Quatre asked, aqua eyes scanning the oval table in the conference room that had hastily been converted into their main planning space. He stood at the head of the table looking confident aside from the fact that his face was slightly paler than usual and he gripped Minako's hand tightly under the table, "I think we've got a plan."

That woke the room up, everyone, (apart from Dorothy, who was scraping the dirt out from under her nails with a thin stiletto knife) leaned forward in their seats, growing quiet with anticipation.

  
  


****

Hotaru:

  
  


The room went silent as we exchanged disbelieving glances, Quatre winced, waiting for the inevitable backlash. 

"That is the stupidest plan I have ever heard." Wufei stated bluntly, amused at the shocked looks shot in his direction. I had to agree.

Dorothy looked up from the notebook she'd been doodling in. "We attack the youma with humus."

Wufei paused, pursed his lips, then nodded. "I stand corrected."

"Still," Trowa interjected, his face pale, but calm, "Let Trieze escape? Please tell us how you think that would help."

Quatre nodded to Mina, and she rose, pacing the length of the table, slowly, "Quatre and I have let him overhear some 'plans' of ours, if we let a few more things slip, then arrange for his escape, we can probably goad them into a full blown attack."

Silence. Like the rest of the group, I definitely did not like where this was going. 

Duo raised his hand, slowly. "And this seems like a GOOD idea to you?" He replied, speaking very slowly, as if to make sure he'd heard her right.

"Well, yes." Mina said, blushing a little, "If we can get them all grouped together in one spot, we've got enough firepower between us to surround them and hold them off for at least an hour." She ran a nervous hand through her hair, "See, it's misdirection, Dorothy, Wufei, Trowa, Iria, the Magnuacs, and whoever we can recruit into helping, can hold them off here," she pointed to the long stretch of desert surrounding the mansion, "While Hotaru, Heero, Duo, Quatre and I go after the main building, whose location Trieze has so helpfully provided for us." Mina smirked. "Duo and Hotaru should be able to take out the whole compound if we can get them in range."

"Why?" Iria interjected, speaking for the first time that day, she still seemed profoundly shaken by the concept of magical destruction in it's entirety, "I understand wanting to draw out the defenses for a clear plan of attack, but why are we going to all this trouble to blow up a building."

Quatre grinned, "That's where Trieze was really useful, he let a few details slip that sound like there's someone with some serious magical mojo in the north tower of the compound, here," He tapped the makeshift map on a rough sketch of the compound in it's estimated size and position. Mina must have explained a lot of magical theory to him, because what he said next shocked the hell out of me, as well as clarifying a lot of things that were seemingly impossible. "It seems that this river theory Hotaru told us is true, from what we were able to wring out of Trieze, we figure she's got some sort of machine acting as a dam, or circuit-breaker if you will, for her. To handle that much power, she must have tied a lot of life energy into it and secured it into the physical plane, into something like a computer."

Duo's lips curled upwards in a sinister fashion, it was amazing how many expressions of Shi's he'd taken on since the merging. "So, no more compound, no more portal, no more wicked witch of the west?" They nodded. "Cool. I get to blow shit up. Always liked doing that."

  
  


I looked around the table. People were starting to nod and relax as they considered the plan. A heavy weight settled in the pit of my stomach, for all my brave words to Mina, I was in no way ready and willing do battle again, let alone have the sole success of the mission teetering perilously on my shoulders. "No! This is all..." I objected, raising from my seat. "That's just SUICIDAL!" I exclaimed, maybe I was being cowardly, but at that point, I didn't really care. No one was going to die because I couldn't pull off an impossible task. And in no one, I was definitely including myself. 

Mina stood again, to face me, drawing another breath probably to give me another meaningless inspirational speech that would distract me long enough to change the subject, but I cut her off sharply. I shook my head angrily. "Is this going to be another lame, 'are we mice or men' speech, because if going in blind makes me a man, I'm announcing right here that I'm most emphatically mouse." Mina's mouth snapped shut, looking more than a little hurt at my harsh words. Nonetheless, I was too far gone to stop now and I plowed on.

"For one, I have no idea how we did that in the first place, let alone doing it again, but I don't know if we'll be able to control that much power! I could incinerate all of Duo, myself, and whoever's guarding us, and you couldn't do anything about it! Just think of the destruction that would be caused if the senshi power actually FUELED the machine instead of destroying it! I know I don't want to be responsible for helping OZ take over the world!"

"That's a chance we're going to have to take. It's the only way." Quatre replied, his calm, quiet voice cutting through my hysteria.

"But..." I objected, my voice was cracking and tears were starting to spill out of the corners of my eyes. I felt a hand on mine under the table, almost reassuring in it's bone-crushing grip. I looked over at Heero. He shook his head.

"I don't want anyone to die." I finished in a weak whisper. Great, no I'd just embarrassed myself, acted like a big dumb coward, and snapped at my best friend. I looked up, and Mina met my gaze, she smiled slightly, and thin veil over the terror that lurked in her bright eyes. I scanned the room, in the past months these people had become as dear to me as the slaughtered family I'd left behind. "Sorry." I apologized for my childish outburst. "I'll do it." I paused. "This really sucks."

Duo patted my shoulder, awkwardly. "Hey, if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


*****

"If I die, I think I'd like to be scattered in the wind. Always free, y'know." Mina murmured from where she lay, in the remains of the orchard, curled in Quatre's lap.

"Don't say things like that, love." Quatre frowned.

Mina shook her head. "No. If I die and you make it, I'd like to be scattered in the wind. Simple as that Quat," She shifted so her head was cradled in the crook of his arm and she could meet his eyes. "Talking about it doesn't curse us or anything. We live, we breathe, we can die, today, or tomorrow, or the day after that, just as easily as eighty years from now, it will come." She sighed.

"Though the chances of dying tomorrow are much higher than I'd like them to be." He mused.

Mina scowled, "Hey, you're supposed to be promising me that no one will die! You're not very reassuring."

He smiled softly down at his distraught girlfriend. "Your speech was very pretty, and unfortunately, true. What I meant, love, is that I don't ever intend to live without you."

She gasped, and all anger melted from her face. Yeah, that was the right thing to say, thought Quatre. Still, the contented look on her face didn't last very long.

"Hotaru was right today, you know. How do we know this just won't make things worse?"

Quatre shook his head, "We don't, all we can do is hope." They lay there in desperate silence before Mina mumbled something he couldn't quite hear. "What was that?"

"Could... could you promise me anyway? That we won't die." She asked, her voice sounding very young as she blushed.

"Okay. I promise." Quatre whispered into her hair, trying to memorize it's exact shade, it's texture, it's smell, and the way it fell gracefully around her shoulders.

She turned a smiling face to him and tapped him gently on the nose. "Liar."

  
  


*****

  
  


Heero rubbed his eyes, this was it, he'd found a slight back door in his programming. Not a big one, mind you, or else he'd have fixed it long ago, but just wide enough to let a small stream of contentment and accomplishment through as he finished charging and shut down his laptop.

Hotaru slipped into the room silently behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

It stayed there for about point .002 seconds as Heero whirled around, backhanding her across the face, and whipping out his gun to press against her temple.

She reeled backward a few steps in shock and pain, holding her cheek. Partially blocked emotions or not, he still had that enviable cyborg strength. She glared up at him as his icy battle facade melted away. "Oh. It's you."

"Must you always greet me at gunpoint?" She gritted out, her more regal persona straightened her back and set her mouth in a firm line.

A little sheepishly, Heero put up his gun. "You shouldn't sneak up on me." He replied. It wasn't an apology, but she had the feeling it was as close to one as she was going to get.

Stupid girl, she cursed herself, always falling for the wrong, wrong, wrong guy. 

He reached out a hand toward her, marveling that she didn't flinch. He ran his fingers lightly over her injured cheek. Injured because of him. A dark feeling washed over him. Was this... guilt? He didn't like it at all. He fought the urge to boot up and close the door to his emotions that had been left partially ajar due to his own meddling.

Maybe they'd be better off if he just re-programmed and lost his emotions again. All emotions did was cause pain. Look at Quatre and Mina, so desperately afraid of losing each other, even still in these early stages of their relationship, or Wufei and Meiran, he'd done reconnaissance on each of his fellow pilots and discovered the secret pain that drove a peaceful scholar to war. Was it worth it? No, probably not, but he had to try, at the very least. She deserved that much.

She saw the apology in his eyes, and the confusion, and wanted to forgive him. Attack was instinct for a soldier, it could have happened with any one of them, but she couldn't help the doubts springing up in her mind. She shrugged, and let the half-formed thought float away. Why worry about the future when they might not even live through the next day.

She turned her bright eyes on him, "So, we're going in tomorrow. Think we'll die?" 

He relaxed, battle was something he knew how to talk about."Have there been any further developements in our plan?"

She snorted, "Right. Last I heard, we've hit rock-bottom, then started to dig."

He paused for a moment, considering her words, then shrugged. "According to all possible factors, as well as the gaping holes in this plan, I'd say, yes, we're going to die."

"Yeah, I thought so." One side of her mouth quirked up in a sly half-grin. She moved toward him, so close that he had to back up to keep her from running into him, stopping when he felt the wall at his back. What on earth was she doing? For that matter, why was his body burning like this? 

She glanced up at him, hesitating for a split second before grabbing him behind the neck and pulling his mouth down to hers. She trailed her fingers through his hair, before snaking around his back to clutch at his tee-shirt and press her body in closer to his.

Heero, shocked, stood frozen for a minute before his body took over for his poor, addled mind. He began to move his mouth on hers, and she opened her mouth. 

Finally, breathing heavily, she broke away, and a contented smile spread across her face. "Wow."

"Guh?" He replied, eyes glazed and hair mussed. He reached for her shoulders again, he didn't know what the hell he was doing, but he knew he wanted it to continue. Instead, she chuckled at the expression on his face.

"Hell, if we're gonna die tomorrow, I wanted to do that, and you weren't going to start it." She looked deeply into his prussian blue eyes, and kicked him in the shin. "But if you ever hit me again, accidental or no, I'm never doing that again, capice?"

She winked and strode purposefully out of the room before he could respond. He touched his burning lips in disbelief, his mind made up.

Oh yeah. She was definitely worth it.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


*****

  
  


"He runs like a girl."

"Iria!" Dorothy exclaimed, pseudo-scandalized.

"He does." She replied, around a mouthful of popcorn. Dorothy and Duo grinned at her in appreciation. The good doctor loosened up a great deal after she seemed to have decided that none of this was really happening, and she may as well take a great deal of amusement in her personal neurosis. Also, those gin and tonics were probably helping as well.

Dorothy, Duo, Wufei, Trowa and Iria herself were seated in a rough semi-circle watching what Duo had dubbed 'the show'. They were in the surveillance room staring at the monitors as Trieze made a stealthy 'escape' from his cell. Dorothy shoveled a handful of popcorn into her mouth and passed the bag to Duo. Trowa shrugged, and rolled his eyes, while Wufei was slowly turning a brilliant shade of red in his effort not to snatch away the bag and scream, 'This is a mission you idiots, if this doesn't go exactly right, we're all dead tomorrow! Dead!' but he managed to refrain. He suspected his own nerves were getting to him, as well as the suspicious lack of two people at the 'party'. He hadn't expected either Quatre or Minako to show up, but where were Heero and Hotaru?

'I don't want her, I willingly gave up any chance I had,' he thought, 'I just don't want him to have her. He can't treat her right, and she'll just end up hurt.' he considered his thoughts for a minute, looking at the two empty chairs. 'Shit, too late.'

  
  
  
  


*****

  
  


Dorothy sat in the cockpit of Deathscythe, familiarizing herself with it's controls, when a faint voice called out to her from below. Seeing Hotaru standing quietly as the foot of the gundam, she hoped down to join her friend. 

"Hey," Hotaru said, "I wanted to ask you something. Have you ever had a dream... no that doesn't make sense, have you ever thought you were someone else?-I mean- oh damn. Are you Sailor Uranus? Pluto was pretty vague about that." Hotaru finally gave up, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. 

Dorothy looked at her google-eyed for a moment, before starting to laugh. "I guess so, I would explain a bunch of things, weird memories, violent tendencies, and so forth. Were you two, er, were we close?"

"Yeah, you were like a father to me." 

Dorothy raised an eyebrow.

"Long story. Yeah, we were close. You died watching my back. Well, mine and Michiru's"

The silence stretched over a few awkward moments.

"Enough about me. What's up? Got tired of Heero and the land of the horizontal mambo? Wham, bam, thank-you-ma'am?" 

Hotaru choked, "Dorothy! You know that's not what I've been doing!"

"Do I?" She raised an eyebrow, and ducked a punch. "Touchy, touchy! All is not well in the land of looove?" 

'Taru rolled her eyes, "More like the land of mixed signals. I swear that boy is.. Rrr! Just Grr!" 

"Sounds good to me." Dorothy replied, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "Heero being a jerk?"

"No, just being himself, as usual."

  
  


*****

  
  


"Here it comes." Hotaru turned to Mina, who stood beside her on the patch of field they'd claim as their territory for the battle. A dark line of the horizon that was only beginning to materialize into individual suits. 

"Whatever happens, I... well." Hotaru stopped, at a loss for words. Mina smiled softly and wrapped the younger girl in her arms.

"I love you too. Scared?"

She nodded, as the first suits landed on the far side of the massive field. "Terrified. Here we go..." 

  
  


******

  
  


As Heavyarms and Nataku ripped through a pack of libras and leos, Mina spun a love-me chain around her head before entangling it around three approaching suits. Mina had almost laughed at the surge of surprise she'd felt through the weak link she held with Quatre the first time she'd used her power. She'd forgotten that she'd never used the dazzling chains and crescents incandescent yellow of light in his presence. 

Her entire body felt light, there was so much power here! Even her weakest attacks were ripping through the metal mobile suit forest that stretched around the three solitary figures on the ground.

Mina, Hotaru, and Duo had been the only ones judged to be able to do more damage on the ground than in mobile suits. Dorothy hadn't been insulted, her magic was still buried, untrained, and she'd practically bounced in glee as Duo reluctantly handed over the controls of his beloved Deathscythe. 

Duo, now there was an odd mix, after a few intensive training sessions with Hotaru, he'd managed to remember a few ancient attacks, but he seemed to prefer to make up his own, he was currently charging his gun with power and firing a hail of super-charged bullets, doing far more damage than he should have been able to. It was uncanny, almost as if he remembered his past life.

On the other hand, it was her past life that she'd though would hold her back in battle. She'd almost been hesitant to use her power before this, afraid of the memories she'd left behind, but holding Hotaru's hand and feeling a surge of support and love through her link, transforming had been surprisingly easy. She grinned, and let loose another attack, finally feeling like herself again, like she had in junior high, when she'd first discovered her powers.

"Power of love and the planet of Venus, punish these destroyers of peace!" She proclaimed striking a pose, just for the hell of it.

Duo looked at Mina, raising his eyebrow in one of those expressions he likes to pretend he doesn't have, "Um, Power of the 9mm semi-automatic, kill a lot of bad guys!"

  
  


Hotaru swung her scythe, unleashing great peals of destructive light with each swing. "Guys! Mina! Duo! Trowa say they can handle it from here, and Dorothy, Heero and Q, say they're ready to make their appearance! Let's go! Phase 2!" She yelled, both to her companions and into the headset she wore. She'd insisted on wearing the headset. Only Pluto knew, but she'd always wanted a headset just like Madonna's when she was a little girl. Letting off a few blasts to cover their retreat, they hurried south to their rendezvous point. 

  
  


*****

The youma grinned to each other on their comm screens the so-called powerful senshi were running scared, en masse, the left flank of the attacking force broke off from the group, following them into a wooded area.

"Pursue on the ground!" Cartlon, the wing-commander bellowed. "They're trying for forest cover, they..." He trailed off as three gundams hurled themselves out of the sky directly into their path. 

"Oh shit." Cartlon cursed. "Ambush!"

  
  


*****

  
  


Swooping down, Quatre's gundam grasped Mina gently in it's massive hands, as Wing did the same for Hotaru and Duo. The third Gundam touched down in a hard, showy three-point landing, and moved to unsheathe the weapon her back. 

"Have fun! Don't scratch her paint!" Duo called as Wing followed Sandrock in launching himself back into the air. Deathscythe straightened holding her weapon straight in front of her. Duo twisted around to see why the youma had hesitated, confused. 

"Hey, that's not..."

Dorothy's grin was audible through the external voice comm she'd switched on. "What? You were expecting a scythe?" She said as she flashed the altered energy weapon, now resembling a broadsword more than anything else.

"C'mon Doro, go for it!" Hotaru sent, after the encounter with Heero, she'd worked of the weapon, re-shaping it for Dorothy.

Dorothy flipped the sword in a practiced gesture, one she'd spent the night analyzing after Hotaru had shown it to her, so the point of the energy weapon now faced the ground. "Earth... shaking!" She screamed as she plunged the sword into the forest floor, the ground erupted under the other mobile suits disintegrated.

The last thing that was heard as they sped away was Duo's protesting yowl, "Dammit! My scythe! Dorotheeeeeee!"

  
  
  
  
  
  


******

  
  


Swooping low over the north tower where the alleged portal was, Heero and Quatre dropped their passengers a few feet above the roof, before peeling off to land and make their way up on foot. Mina and Duo both managed to roll fairly easily, but Hotaru, senshi coordination notwithstanding, had never been too great at keeping her feet. She bounced a few times and lay still, Duo rushed over to her, worried, but after a few seconds, she moaned and sat up, abrasions on her cheek and shoulders from the rough concrete healing rapidly. "Ow." She grimaced, getting shakily to her feet. "Next time, can someone remind me not to break my fall with my face?" 

Mina rolled her eyes, "Ready?" They nodded, she returned it and executed a spinning kick to knock down the maintenance door that led down into the control room. "Here goes everything." She murmured as they started down the stairs.

  
  


****

Dorothy grinned as the metal and earth flew past her, using a deadly combination of magic and good, old-fashioned ass-whupping, she was in her element. While Trowa and Wufei flanked her silently, she was laughing and cracking wise as she tore through wave after wave of enemy mobile suits.

Privately, Trowa thought she had gone completely insane, if she hadn't been previously, but he couldn't argue with the results. 

Skipping over to a suit downed from another of her earth-shaking magical attacks, (Trowa was quietly disturbed by this, he hadn't thought Gundams COULD skip, let alone do it while gleefully stomping on her enemies, and answering the age-old question of: What would happen if a youma got stepped on by a gundam? Frankly, Trowa thought, a little queasy, it went 'crunch' and left a big red splat.), she powered up her energy sword and leaned in close, "Earth is full. Go home." She said politely, slicing off the suit's legs at the knees.

  
  
  
  
  
  


*****

  
  


"This is it." Duo whispered as he came to a closed door, through it, they could hear a harsh female voice cursing, and the whirrs and clicks of a dozen interfaces set up in an alleged command center.

"Remember the plan guys!" Mina hissed, as Duo turned the doorknob, distract her long enough for me to plant the explosives, and for Heero and Duo to clear a path of escape for us on the way down, that's all! Duo! Don't piss her off!" 

Duo paused, before pushing the door open. "Moi? Would I do that?" He replied, his eyes wide in a Bambi-like expression of utter innocence.

"Yes." Mina and Hotaru responded in unison as Duo slid the door open as silently as he could. They had crept into the room for a good five paces before the woman in the chair realized she was not alone.

"Who!" She called out, startled, but quickly recovered, "Ah, Saturn! Pleasure to see you again bitch. Where's Venus, the little traitor must be nearby. Come on out, I can feel you lurking there." 

Venus stiffened and stepped reluctantly out of the shadows, their plan blown. It was actually surprising that it had gotten this far without any mishaps.

"I see you've picked up a gundam pilot as well. How cute. I've waited a long time, saving up all the pain I've felt over these long years, to share it with you." The voice continued, a niggling thought at the back of Hotaru's mind surfaced as she studied the woman's aura of tarnished silver with faint blots of pinkish red around the edges. It felt almost... familiar.

Duo snorted, confused and not at all pleased about it. Plus, her whining was pissing him off. "Oh, get over yourself," He snapped, "Life is pain, Princess, anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something."

The woman in the chair gasped in outrage, and Mina groaned, covering her eyes with both hands, good job Duo, she thought, let's antagonize the homicidal maniac.

Hotaru gestured, her scythe appeared, and Duo pulled his gun, as the huge chair turned slowly to face the group.

She was monstrous, a small huddled form wrapped in wires and electrodes in a tall chair with cables connecting to the walls and screens around her like a spiderweb. Her skin was paper-thin, almost translucent and stretched tight across her skin, a few strands of pale hair clung to the skin around an open skull, twinkling with wires and flashing microchips.

Pale hair, red eyes.

Pale, pink hair.

Hotaru's scythe clattered to the ground. 

She was much too old, too dark and too ravaged for it to be possible, but it was.

"Rini?" She gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. Her mind flashed back to the attack. Pain. Portal. Chibi-usa wailing in the Queen's dead grasp. Portal. Pain. "You couldn't have survived. You couldn't have."

Rini smiled, meaning to be grim, but ending up with grotesque. "No, you forgot to kill me with the rest of my family. You'll regret it as I pin you up by your hands like my father. Or how about I rip out your spine, how my mother died?" Her voice started as calm, but ended in a scream.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mina roared back at her. "We died that day with them. How can you blame us for a youma attack that took us all by surprise? We survived by luck, dammit, luck we didn't deserve, but we did not stand by and let them die. We fought!"

"No!" Rini thrust her hands out in front of her, and all three of them were blown back off their feet. "You lie! You controlled the youma with your powers and then ran away through a portal!"

"No." Hotaru said firmly, even if she swayed as she re-gained her footing. "The youma came on their own. Search your memories Rini, you can find the truth."

Rini shrieked again, throwing another wave of power at the trio, but Duo had stumbled to Hotaru's side, and, adding his considerable power to hers, she managed to throw up a hasty shield that blunted Rini's attack.

"Think!" Hotaru intoned gravely, "Would allies, friends, do that to you?" She gestured at the wires protruding from all over her body.

"I need this to live!" Rini snapped back, though she seemed less sure of herself than before, "The power was ripping me apart. I needed this."

"How long have you been looking for us?" Mina piped up. Hotaru shot a questioning glance at her, but Mina held Rini's gaze.

"Centuries." Rini replied.

Mina nodded, as if that's what she'd been expecting. "I was never good at mind tricks. You're bound to be much better than me, I can't lie mind-to-mind. I'm not that good, and you can feel it. Read my mind, dig through my memories, whatever. You'll find we're telling the truth." 

Rini stared at Mina until she wanted to squirm under her sharp, unwavering gaze, then, finally, nodded. She reached out a tendril of power, and their blood sang in recognition. Rini tried to ignore the rampant elation that swept through her veins, well, the veins she had left, at the touch of Mina's aura. She tried to ignore it, and almost succeeded, but then the images started, followed by sensations and feelings and then all she knew was a battle long, long ago.

Mina's memories burned. There were youma everywhere, attacking. Through Minako's eyes, she saw her father fall under a crippling blow dealt by a tall purple-furred youma as her mother clutched a wailing baby to her chest. 

It was her, she realized belatedly, the screaming baby was her. 

She saw her mother's eyes widen as the youma turned on her, licking Mamoru's blood from their fingers, laughing in triumph. She felt Mina's desperation to protect her queen and princess, and the anguish as her king died. She saw Hotaru battling a short horned creature, tears streaming down her face, and a pike sticking out of her back where, as she would later learn, Hotaru had punctured a lung. She felt the energy blast searing her left shoulder blade, knocking her forward onto a set of jagged claws...

Rini tore herself away, gasping. No. No! This couldn't be!

But it was, everything fit. All holes of memory filled. It was the curious disappointment assembling a thousand- piece puzzle, and after a long toil, the picture you ended up with was nothing like the one on the box. Her world had shattered. She let out a sob, but her cheeks were dry. She wished she could cry.

  
  


*****

  
  


As Mina and Rini joined their minds, Duo noticed something familiar out of the corner of his eye. It shone with a soft inner light and was behind Rini's monstrous chair, in the center of a tangle of wires. He nudged Hotaru with an elbow and jerked his head in the direction of the object. 

"The silver crystal!" Hotaru hissed in surprise, "We thought it had been lost! That must have been the power source we were looking for!"

Duo nodded, fading back into the shadows silently to make his way toward the crystal. It wasn't necessary though, Rini's attention was focused entirely on Mina and whatever private exchange was going on. 

As he reached the tangle of wires, and was trying to figure out the best way to disconnect the ancient gem, Rini let out a keening wail, and ripped out of her trance. She stared at her hands, as if in shock, and whispered, "No."

Her eyes snapped up to meet first Hotaru's, then Duo's. "No. This can't be. This is all wrong."

*****

  
  


Rini's mind was reeling from the shock. 

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

But she could make it right again.

She turned to Duo. "Give me the crystal."

"What?"

"Give me the crystal. All they want is to go home. I can send them back, this plane of existence is driving them mad." She shuddered at her borrowed memories of the attack. "That's how Beryl got them to fight you, and I've been doing the same thing." She shook her head, "It's too late. Too late. Too late." Her voice trailed off in a singsong, and she shook her head again. "All this time, I believed you had opened that portal, that you were the ones responsible for this, but it was me, wasn't it? I got so lost." She smiled a little, "I promised myself I wouldn't rest until I'd punished my parent's murderers." She let out a wry chuckle, "Guess I did that, trapping them on a horrible plane of existence. I just want to go home." She said quietly in a very small voice. "And now I will."

Hotaru was too shell-shocked to reply, but Duo, calm as ever in his Shi persona, stepped forward. "No princess," he held the crystal away from her, "The machinery holding you together will short-circuit! It will kill you!"

"I know. Everyone's got something to atone for." She snapped, her guilt weighing heavy on her shoulders, "I have more than most. It's only fair that my price should be higher." Dear god, she wished she could cry. Emotions, unfamiliar after sustaining herself for so long on anger and hate welled up inside, but over them all, was a deep-seeded fatigue. Finally, she would get to rest.

"No." Hotaru snapped, finally seeming to realize that her best childhood friend was about to commit a suicidal act, "I won't let you die." 

"They won't let me live. I'm too dangerous. Unstable." She gestured to Duo, as if he encompassed the resistance at large. "Don't spoil this for me. I've been waiting a long time to put my mother's murders to rest, now I will." Her eyes shone with the power of the silver crystal. "I've been holding on too long. I will put this right. Now run. Run as fast as you can. I understand now. Damn you Puu, I understand now. Tears trickled down her cheeks. As she sang softly to herself, 'Baby's been lied to, Mama said, Mama said...'"

  
  


******

Mina looked at Hotaru in barely restrained panic, as Rini's eyes unfocused and she began chanting under her breath. "She's going to open a portal to the negaverse? Here? Now?" 

Hotaru gulped, and nodded. "Duo stop!" She yelled as he began high-tailing it for the door.

He whipped around, "Why? You heard her. Big kablooie, we should run. I rather like having all my parts securely attached."

"He's right," Mina agreed, "I she was your best friend way back when, but you heard her, you can't stop her, this is something she has to do."

Hotaru's eyes misted a little, remembering her childhood friend, not the cyborg that sat before them, "I'm not going to stop her. You're right Mina, you should run, get Heero and Quatre, but Duo and I are staying here."

"Uh-uhn! Speak for yourself sis!" Duo snapped, then paused, looking pensive, "Actually, you're not going to speak for yourself as you're not staying either." In a flash, he'd swung Hotaru up over his shoulder in a traditional fireman's carry, where her small fists beat ineffectively at his back. "Go, Mina, get the others, we'll catch up." Mina nodded and took off full speed down the stairs. He started for the door, but then Hotaru began to speak, saying something that stopped him in his tracks.

"You leave this room, you kill us all." She hissed, though her warning was slightly less menacing as it came from a few inches below his shoulder blade. 

"What?"

"To create a portal you need to rip the fabric of one reality to reach into the next. The rip itself doesn't take that much power, but one that big, plus pulling all the youma from Earth and the colonies into the portal would probably drain Rini and kill her, even without overheating circuits in her brain. It's controlling it that's the problem. Once a rip is that wide, it's just keep on tearing under it's own weight. Containing the portal and sewing it back up afterward will drain the silver crystal, then it's only us standing between our universe getting sucked into hell. Literally." Hotaru's nostril's flared at the end of her rant. Duo set his twin back on the ground.

"That doesn't make sense. Pluto's gone back and forth probably a million times, and that didn't kill her." 

She shook her head. "Genius, if you'd spent more time listening to Pluto, instead of staring at her chest-don't bother to deny it-you'd know that she uses the time gates, not portals. Creating the portal to send Mina and I to the future drained Pluto enough for a beta-level youma to kill her. Not with a magical attack either. With claws." Duo paled, remembering how infinitely strong Pluto had seemed. Hotaru took a deep breath, "Remember when the silver millennium fell, how Pluto told us we couldn't fight, how it was too dangerous for us to use our power then, and how our time would come to end it all? Well, I think this is what we've been saving it for."

"So there's no way we can weasel out of this?" 

"Doesn't look like it, no. What happened to cool, calm, 'I like to blow shit up' boy?"

"He prefers living. Hey, eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."

"You'll be a really dead weasel if we don't stop this tear from getting any bigger. Right now."

"Well, crap. How come we have to save the world? The world's doomed."

"Yep."

  
  


****

  
  


The silvery light swirled around the tower, as the light grew brighter, tentacles sprang out of the mass, stretching toward every youma on the planet, snapping them back into their home dimension.

The sky over the plain where Dorothy, Wufei, and Trowa fought was flooded with light, and, one by one, the mobile suits began to collapse as their pilots were spirited away.

"Aw. They're gone." Dorothy pouted as Wufei and Trowa leaned back in their seats trying to catch their breath. "Just I was about to make with the snappy banter."

  
  


****

  
  


The rip encompassed the entire south wall of the tower now, Rini kneeling before it, as if in prayer, her eyes and mouth frozen open in a silent scream. Time was slowing down, she'd heard it did funny things as you were dying. All she could see was white, everywhere. Her blood burned and screamed, and tried to wring itself free of the power that flowed through it, the power that was killing her.

Because it's always about the blood. 

A thousand needles were scraping along the surface of her skin, and her metal components felt as if they were, melting, fusing, burning it's way out of her body...

...And then, the pain was gone.

Slowly, but steadily, a castle materialized out of the endless white, followed by two tall human silhouettes and three feline ones. "Mama? Papa?..."

  
  


****

  
  


Rini was overloading, sparks leapt free of her skull as liquid metal mixed with blood poured like sweat from the pores of her skin. Hotaru was shaking, though if Duo asked, she would have said it was from the strain on holding the portal steady. Rini whimpered once, then, in a surprisingly clear voice, gasped, "Mama? Papa?" Then toppled over, dead.

Light exploded, it seemed that Rini was doing a fair bit of controlling the portal herself before she had succumbed. 

Hotaru reached for Duo's hand blindly. "Ready?" She asked.

"As I'll ever be." He replied, setting his jaw. 

****

  
  


Racing back up the stairs, boys in tow, Mina cursed Hotaru and Duo. Why hadn't they followed? They had to get out of that towed before it collapsed on them! 

They turned a corner, opened the door to the tower stairwell, and were immediately blown off their feet as a tidal wave of bright white energy bowled them over. Pushing them back from the tower for a few moments before a purple light washed over the white, steadily forcing it back into the tower.

"What the heck was that?" Quatre groaned, trying to extract himself from the wall.

Mina swore, and began limping up the stairs, "The portal energy!" She screamed back over her shoulder, "'Taru and Duo must be containing it! They must be in a trance! We have to get them out of there! The building's going to collapse!" As if to punctuate her words, ominous cracks promptly appeared on the walls and ceiling.

"They're stuck in there?" Heero asked.

Mina nodded, and continued limping up the stairs, and just then, witnessed just how fast soldier-boy could move when his best friend, and pseudo-crush were in trouble.

  
  


****

  
  


Too much, it was too much. She could feel Duo's exhaustion, and the portal was only just contained, at this rate, they wouldn't be able to get it more than half closed. Duo's hand slipped from hers as he sank to his knees beside her. 

The world was spinning, and she was terribly tired. 

"I'm sorry Puu," She thought, we couldn't do it. She just wanted to sleep. Sleep was good, there was no pain. No dead friends, no bad memories, no pain, no death, just peace. 

She could use a little peace.

She sat down and slowly closed her eyes. She head the door burst open, but somehow she couldn't be bothered to care. 

She slipped away.

  
  


****

  
  


"No!" Heero's mind screamed as he saw Hotaru collapse to the ground, frantically scrambling over the increasing debris, he rushed to her side, noting that Mina and Quatre had done the same for Duo. 

She looked so pale, hardly breathing, black hair in sharp contrast to her chalky complexion. In spite of the growing silver light around them, she looked dead.

No. She would live.

If she was dead he would kill her.

  
  


****

  
  


Hotaru could feel someone lift her head from the ground and give her a rough shake. She frowned slightly. Didn't this inconsiderate person know that she was trying to sleep. Big meanie.

She was extremely prepared to ignore it, but she felt a sharp slap on her cheek, and that was enough to make her angry.

  
  


*****

  
  


"Wake up Hotaru. Dammit, you stupid, stupid girl. Wake up! Get up! You're not done yet. Get up you lazy sow! Get up!" Heero shook the unresponsive girl in his arms once more for good measure.

"Wake up Hotaru. Please?"

  
  


*****

  
  


She opened her eyes slowly, ready to curse at her tormenter sleepily, then go back to bed, but as her eyes focused, she saw Heero, surrounded by falling bits of tower and haloed in the light of the portal, and the words died on her tongue as the desperate look on his usually stoic face was replaced by amazement. No one had ever looked at her like that before.

Her stomach knotted as she fought the urge to squirm under his intense stare. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant, just strange. They way he was looking at her, she'd never seen anyone with that expression on their face, certainly not on Heero. It was softer than his usual blank slate, his mouth relaxed and the hard lines around his eyes vanished as the light of the fire danced inside. It was a look of awe. 

He stared at her as if he'd never seen a woman before, and in that moment, helpless and unwilling, she realized he was beautiful.

She didn't want to sleep anymore. She didn't want to die.

Flinch. Pain screamed up her veins and pulsed around her brain.

The violet light waned once more around their huddled group. Though the edges of her vision were beginning to fuzz, she saw Mina close her eyes and lean into Quatre's chest, as he wrapped his arms so desperately around her that she had blood running down her face and he had a black eye.

She felt Heero's hand tighten around hers and pull her closer.

She grit her teeth.

They were not going to die today.

  
  


****

Purple light surged and lifted both Hotaru and Duo off the ground, laces of light reached out toward Heero, Mina, and Quatre, locking their power into the twins, then stretching out for more, first touching those with magical power, then drawing a little from those without, touching every human being on the planet, and drawing a little strength from each.

With a final flare, the portal collapsed into itself. At the sudden lack of resistance, the twin's trance broke, and, exhausted and ten feet up in the air, they suddenly dropped to the ground with an audible thump. Duo was unconscious, but Hotaru looked up, her purple eyes glazed over, content, tired, pained and more than a little out of it, "That was nifty." She giggled, and flopped over onto the ground, joining her brother in unconsciousness.

Heero and Quatre looked on in shock. He that really happened? 

Their reverie was broken by the sound of metal cables snapping an a far-off explosion. 

"Guess we won't be taking the elevators." Mina smirked, "Let's get out of here."

  
  


****

A few hours later, Dorothy, Wufei, and Trowa found them sleeping in an exhausted pile at the foot of the grove where the gundams had been hidden, a few hundred meters from the ruins of what now remained of OZ.

That night, Hotaru had the first undisturbed night of sleep since her original hellish journey to the future, instead she'd sees a young, happy Rini in her parents arms. They had been trapped in the crystal they explain, now shattering the crystal, all their souls have been set free. She sees her friends young and carefree, and says her final goodbyes. She's sad, but she knows it's was a necessary evil. Now they're no longer trapped in that never ending cycle of being re-born to fight the same evil, over, and over again. She's uncertain about the future, the first time she's ever lived without a destiny already mapped out for her, but for now, she's trying not to think about it, and instead heal, and take a well-deserved rest.

Heero's still confused about his feelings, and currently cursing himself for letting Hotaru wrangle a promise from him not to block his emotions using his programming again, when he was all relieved and tired. He resolves to hate her in the future. Sneaky little bint.

Duo is still blissfully asleep, though not unconscious.

Mina and Quatre, well, they... um... are VERY happy to be alive-take from that what you will-moving on now.

Wufei's happy everyone survived, but not at all pleased at Hotaru and Heero's budding relationship. First thing in the morning, he's digging up everything bad about Heero he can find.

Trowa's still fuzzy on the details of how the world was saved, but for now he's content to let it lie, and simply be alive.

Finally, that night, Dorothy and Iria proceeded to get smashingly drunk.

  
  
  
  
  
  


THE END (Well, sort of... epilogue and previews of a sequel forthcoming, check back and vote for which sequel you'd like to see, also the final edit including some lost in-between scenes, and the full thank-yous will be added with the epilogue, or soon after.)

  
  
  
  


There it is, folks, thanks to every single reviewer (I love you guys, love love love love!) And everyone who's beta'd along the way.

Please, PLEASE tell me if you think this chappie worked or not, it really was extremely hard to write, and I don't currently have an official beta for these last few bits, so it was really, really difficult to decide if it worked or not.

Review! Good/bad, sequel/no sequel, whatever! Thanks so much for reading and encouraging me along the way!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	16. Epilogue

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Epilogue:

  
  


Hotaru's Journal:

  
  


I can't believe it's over.

It's been two months since we took down OZ and the world somehow stayed the same. Oh, there have been changes, have there EVER been changes, but on the whole, after about a week of drunken celebration (mostly on the part of Duo, Mina, Iria and Dorothy) our daily lives went on much as they had before (if you could call THAT normal). 

The boys find new missions, it would be nice if the destruction of OZ gave us world peace; but no such luck, and so do Mina, Dorothy, and I. Duo and I have tried to get to know each other a little better in our current lives. Once the imminent danger passed, it was a little awkward but we're working past it.

Mina and Quatre went through sort of the same thing. Oh. Eww. That sounded so incredibly wrong! 

What I mean is that under stress, a relationship can progress a lot faster than they might have meant to be. I mean, when you've living each moment as your last, you don't give a lot of thought to taking things slowly. Still, they seem to have a connection, maybe even something to do with their powers. All I know is that when one of them is hurting, both are in agony, and it's best to just lock them in the nearest room until they make up.

Mina thinks the emotional basis of her powers somehow latched onto Quatre's empathy to divert some of the power overwhelming her injured body while she recovered. Well, that's actually how Iria explained it. Mina had a few more theories, and she used naughtier words.

Dorothy had a similar assimilation to undergo, but she did it with surprising ease. She meditated with either Mina or myself to guide her through he fragmented memories, or built up her powers. Still, she remained largely the same: loud, tactless, and impatient, but utterly fearless, with a fierce joy in her newfound power.

As we coach her through the past, it falls further away. Crystal Tokyo already seems a lifetime away. In truth, it has been many lifetimes, but I'm still afraid to let the sharp pains fade into a distant ache. These memories are all we have left of our friends now, and I don't want to forget them.

Mina reassures me that we could never forget them, even if we lived a thousand more lifetimes, but sometimes I see the glint of worry in he eyes when she finds herself smiling too much, and laughing.

Mina and I, it's strange how close we are now. In Crystal Tokyo we hardly ever spoke, but now we sometimes finish each others' sentences. In ending, we have found new beginnings.

  
  


Uh. Enough nostalgia! Duo says that I angst more than Wufei sometimes (And that, sir or madam, is some mighty angsting). Duo is still his totally insane self, and I love him for it. Wufei is slowly getting over the annoying women=weak equation that had been branded into his brain. guess living with Mina, Dorothy, and myself, three gals who could chuck him across the room without breaking a sweat, Iria, who won't take any guff in her lab, pilot or not, and the new Doc, Sally Po, who seems like a pretty kick-ass woman herself. Wufei and Mina still fight constantly though, I've learned to tune it out.

Trowa's still pretty quiet, but has started to relax around Mina in the last month or so. She even said he started a conversation last week! He's still a little skittish around me, but Q told me about watching the merging of the Saturn power, so I understand the wigging. I'm still a little hurt, but I understand.

Last and certainly least on the list would be Heero. He's nearly the basis of my theory about extenuating circumstances speeding up relationships, or, in this case, maybe creating relationships. See, he's taken what I said to heart, and started to loosen up, relying on his laptop less and less, but lately he's taken to completely ignoring me.

He's sitting in the sun right now, looking like some Greek sculptor's wet dream, and, even though he's totally oblivious to my presence right now, my heart still does the funky tango in my chest. 

I really hate him right now...

  
  


***

Hotaru made a small sound of surprise intermingled with indignation as Duo swooped down and snatched the journal out of her hands.

"C'mon 'Taru!" He crowed, "It's our day off, we're at the park, and you're sitting here scribbling in some little book! What is it today?" He flipped open to a blank page and mimicked writing. "Dear diary,"He squeaked and a heinous falsetto, "Heero ignored me today. I hate life. The end."

"Duo!" She hissed, as Heero looked over, hearing his name. 

"Seriously, sis, live in the now, come play frisbee." He pouted and stared down at her with large, irrisitable puppy-dog eyes.

She felt a grin spreading across her face, almost involuntarily, as Duo zipped her journal inside her knapsack and hauled her up to her feet with a plaintive, "Come oooooon!" 

  
  


****

  
  


Mina's head shot up as Hotaru's unexpected squeal broke through the quiet tranquility of the park. She liked the park, it had lots of benches, optimal for snuggling with her hunky boyfriend. Which she was doing before Hotaru had screamed. 

Quatre had also jumped a little, on instinct, then relaxed and settled against Mina's side again when all he saw was Duo mocking Hotaru, dangling her journal a few inches out of her grasp. 

Faint strains of their conversation, namely Duo mocking Hotaru's pity-party drifted over to their bench. Luckily the object of the conversation was a little farther away, lounging on the grass with Dorothy and Iria.

Mina rolled her eyes. Maybe she and Quatre had the benefit of a magical connection but this little awkward dance around each other was getting ridiculous! It seemed that as soon as danger disappeared, so did their brains.

"Okay," she decided, "Either Heero and Hotaru get together soon, or we lock them in a closet for a few hours."

Quatre gave a low chuckle, looking up at her with mischief in his eyes. "Agreed. Though don't you think a bedroom would be more appropriate?"

Mina choked slightly, punching his shoulder. "Quatre!" She exclaimed, giggling, "I do believe you've spent too much time in my presence!"

"Scandalized?" He waggled his eyebrows.

"Impressed." She winked, leaning in for a kiss.

  
  


*****

  
  


"Man, do they ever STOP?" Dorothy exclaimed, looking over at Mina and Quatre smooching on a park bench a short distance away, near the lake.

Trowa looked up, shook his head, then looked back down at his sandwich, trying to figure out if it was edible or not.

"Real talkative, isn't he?" She to Iria, who grinned.

"Maybe he'd talk more if he could get a word in Dorothy."

Dorothy snorted, rolling her eyes, "Right. Between Trowa and soldier-boy over there, we've got enough uncomfortable silences for everyone."

Trowa raised his head from his sandwich again, arching an eyebrow, "While Heero is too fixated on Hotaru to pay any attention to us, I happen to be sitting right here."

"Yeah, well either participate, or become the subject boy-o, your choice."

Trowa let out a long suffering sigh.

  
  


*****

Heero stared at Hotaru, laughing as she dove for the frisbee, he hair whipping around her head and falling in her eyes.

He'd been confused after he re-programmed his laptop, and had avoided her for a few weeks to try to work out his feelings. His plan was to step back, do some tactical re-con, analyze his feelings and be done with it in a month, but it turns out this 'feelings' thing was a lot more complicated than he'd thought.

He liked her, he could say that for sure. She was small, and smelled nice, and had an impressive vocabulary of curse-words, which she frequently used to describe him. (Okay, maybe he didn't like that part so much.)

What he didn't understand now is why his heart did funny things whenever she brushed up against him, or why the words suddenly froze in his throat whenever she headed his way.

It was annoying really. 

He'd tried ignoring her, but somehow, he'd found himself watching her out of the corner of his eye whenever she was in sight. He groaned, he really hated her sometimes...

His distraction was, in fact, so deep that he didn't even notice the mobile suit rising out of the lake until Mina yelled an anatomically incorrect expletive and flipped the park bench over in her haste to be on her feet.

  
  


A woman open the hatch on the top of the submarine-like suit, and stepped out, posing with fists on hips and her chest thrust out. She took a moment to adjust her long black hair and silver cape, so they flowed just so in the minimal wind the day had to offer, before raising a gloved fist and beginning her speech. "Attention people of the Federation of Earth! The Crux is coming! One month, twenty-two days, four hours, sixteen minutes, and thirteen seconds! You will be cleansed of the weakness in your hearts, an only the worthy will not perish. Witness our power!

She leaned over to fiddle with a strange machine beside her on the mobile suit.

Heero looked at Hotaru, now standing beside him at the edge of the lake with the rest of the group. 

"Please tell me she's not serious." Dorothy groaned.

Heero, didn't hear her, Hotaru's hand had grazed his as she turned to shush Dorothy. Acting on a total will of it's own, Heero's hand twisted around to grasp Hotaru's firmly.

This caused enough distraction on both parts that they didn't notice that the machine had charged. Heero turned to meet her eyes, words failing him once again. Hotaru blushed, and looked up at him, "I..." she began.

Suddenly, the ground exploded at their feet, hurling them to the ground, as Duo yelled at them to; "Pay some fucking attention to the psycho with the gun, for god's sake!"

Heero growled, he was finally feeling right, with Hotaru in his arms, but he hated, HATED, being interrupted.

He pulled out his gun still lying on the ground with one arm around Hotaru's waist, taking a moment to line up his shot, then planted a bullet with near surgical precision between the woman's eyebrows. 

He nodded as the woman looked confused, then toppled limply into the water with a faint splash.

With a small satisfied grunt, he stuffed the gun back into it's holster and looked back to Hotaru and their assembled friends. All of which looked like they'd been smacked upside the head with a board.

Hotaru was the first to recover, a slow smile spreading across her face. "Well, that was easy. A little anti-climactic though."

He grinned back, still a little uncomfortable with the way the new expression felt on his face, leaning over her, cupping her cheek with his palm. "Just you wait." He replied, and captured her mouth with his before she could reply.

They didn't even notice when Mina started cheering.

  
  
  
  


THE END! THE TOTAL END!

  
  


Thank's so much for the support!

  
  
  
  


Here's some ideas for a sequel and/or some side-story/spinoffs. Review and tell me if you'd think you'd want to read it!

  
  


Here of some little plot summaries and possible titles, please tell me which you'd be interested in seeing.

Peace Summit/

The crew is invited to speak at the summit for demilitarization. Heero deals with public speaking, Mina and Duo steal hotel towels, and Hotaru and Relena meet for the first time. Spin-off of Necessary Evils, six months after the epilogue.

  
  


Blonde Ambition

Mina spinoff fic set before their kiss, Mina sets out to (quite badly) seduce Quatre. Digs deeper into their relationship.

  
  


Losing Serena/ What Ever Happened to Rini?

Rini's childhood, growing up, dark, depressing.

  
  


Actual (Untitled as of yet) Sequel:

  
  


As if trying to adjust to (mostly) normal life, was hard enough. Heero's lost most of his special powers, and is not dealing with it very well, and since they closed the portal, everyone seems to become weaker everyday. As if that wasn't enough to deal with, the media's finally figured out who the Gundam pilots are, thanks to an anonymous tip. With the discovery of their identities, the authorities discover they should still be in school, packing Heero, Hotaru, Mina, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and Dorothy off to neo-TokyoHigh. (conveniently located on top of where the old Crystal Palace used to stand). Then, in their first week of class, magically inclined folk start turning up dead.

Now, they have to save the world before curfew, and somehow manage to pass their classes at the same time.

Now who said high-school wasn't fun?

  
  
  
  


That's it! R/r, and remember to vote!


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